Mosses accumulate heavy metals from the substrata of coal ash

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.