MOSSES ACCUMULATE HEAVY METALS FROM THE

SUBSTRATA OF COAL ASH

V. VUKOJEVIĆ¹, M. SABOVLJEVIĆ^1,2, AND S. JOVANOVIĆ¹

¹Department of Plant Ecology, Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Takovska 43, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro;

²AG Bryologie, Nees Institut der RFW Universität Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 170, D-53115 Bonn, Germany

Abstract - Plants that are able to accumulate and tolerate extraordinarily high concentrations of heavy metals (hyperaccumulators) can be used for phytoremediation (removal of contaminants from soils) or phytomining (growing a crop of plants to harvest the metals). Two moss species, Bryum capillare Hedw. and Ceratodon purpureus Hedw., were tested as potential phytoremedies under in vivo conditions on a coal ash disposal site in the surroundings of Obrenovac (NW Serbia). The content of various heavy metals (iron, manganese, zinc, lead, nickel, cadmium, and copper) in the mosses and substrata were investigated over a period of three years. Iron and zinc were found to have the highest concentration in the mosses.