Journal Article

Moss Bags as Active Biomonitors of Air Pollution: Current State of Understanding, Applications and Concerns

Chaudhuri, Sriroop, Roy, Mimi

2024

Overview

Dual concerns involving the rise in airborne pollutant levels and bulging need to protect-preserve human health have propelled the search for innovative means for air quality monitoring to aid in evidence-based decision-making (pollution prevention-mitigation). In this regard, moss bags have gathered a great deal of attention as active biomonitors. In this reflective discourse, we systematically review the world literature to present a bird’s eye view of moss bag applications and advances while highlighting potential concerns. We begin with a brief note on mosses as biomonitors, highlighting the advantages of moss bags over the passive technique (native moss), other living organisms (lichens, vascular plants), and instrument-based measurements. A major strand of moss bag research involves urban ecosystem sustainability studies (e.g., street tunnels and canyons, parks), while others include event-specific monitoring and change detection (e.g., SARS-CoV-2 Lockdown), indoor-outdoor air quality assessment, and change detection in land use patterns. Recent advances include biomagnetic studies, radioisotopic investigations, and mobile applications. Efforts are currently underway to couple moss bag results with a suite of indicators [e.g., relative accumulation factor (RAF), contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI), enrichment factor (EF)] and spatially map the results for holistic appraisal of environmental quality (hot spot detection). However, while moss bag innovations and applications continue to grow over time, we point to fundamental concerns/uncertainties (e.g., lack of concordance in operational procedures and parameterization, ideal species selection, moss vitality) that still need to be addressed by targeted case studies, before the moss results could be considered in regulatory interventions.

• Publisher: Technoscience Publications
• Subject: Air monitoring / Air pollution / Air quality / Air quality assessments / Applications programs / Biomonitors / Canyons / Change detection / Contamination / Decision making / Environmental monitoring / Environmental quality / Flowers & plants / Heavy metals / Indoor air pollution / Land use / Literature reviews / Mobile computing / moss bag, urban sustainability, metal and pah monitoring, air quality assessment, environmental indicators, parameterization / Mosses / Outdoor air quality / Parameterization / Pollution abatement / Pollution control / Pollution index / Pollution levels / Pollution load / Pollution prevention / Quality assessment / Quality control / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Sustainable ecosystems