Monitoring of temporal trend of atmospheric metals by moss Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw in Jammu (India)

Atmospheric pollutants, such as metals, are extremely variable in space and time and it is cumbersome and expensive to deduce detailed information over a vast area using traditional instruments. Consequently, a cost-effective bio-monitor was preferred in the present study to analyze the atmospheric metal load. For this purpose, a moss Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw was inducted amongst moss species available to evaluate the intensity and trend of atmospheric deposition of Zn, Cu, Cd, and Pb in Jammu in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India for a period of three years, 2014- 2016. The biomonitoring experimentation was performed by transplanting moss bags prepared from Hypnum cupressiforme, after validating its tolerance against metals using a photosynthetic efficiency analyzer in the field. Moss Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw exposed seasonally, covering summer, monsoon, and winter periods, upon the analysis provided time-integrated patterns of metal bioavailability at the study sites. An attempt was made to compare the seasonal variations during the three years of study and findings exhibited significant seasonal variations in metal. The gradient of the metal load was in the order of Cu>Cd>Zn>Pb. The total average percentage increase in the metals under consideration, Zn, Pb, Cu, and Cd, was 40%, 37%,79%, and 76%, respectively during three subsequent years. It is worth mentioning here that biomonitoring studies on atmospheric metals have never been explored for this region.