Quantitative relations between different concentrations of micro- and macroelements in mosses and lichens: the region of Opole (Poland) as an environmental interface in between Eastern and Western Europe

We examined the concentration of selected metals: Al, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb, as well as activity of 137Cs in samples of moss and lichen, collected in the area surrounding Bory Stobrawskie, a wood complex situated in southern Poland. The concentration of metals was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The activity of 137Cs was determined by gamma spectrometry. We used these results, as well as results published in the literature, to determine the correlation between the concentration of analytes in lichens and in mosses. The analysis of the function ln(cx,moss) = lna + bln(cx,lichen) indicated with high degree of certainty that the concentration levels of analytes accumulated in lichens and mosses were comparable, while their difference, expressed as crelat. = 2 (cx,lichen − cx,moss) (cx,lichen + cx,moss)−1, could indicate the origins of the analytes. The relations, presented here for the first time, can find application in biomonitoring.