Iron adsorption capacity of some moss species used for heavy metal analysis

Mosses, covering about 23000 species of all land plants in the world, have been widely used as an indicator of heavy metal pollution in many studies. In this study, we have first analyzed the Iron adsorption capacities of six different moss species by means of using EDXRF spectrometry method. For analysis with EDXRF, the 40 mg tablets which were prepared from lichen and moss samples by sieving with 400 mesh, were irradiated by 241Am radioactive sources emitting 59,5 keV photons. Photons passed through the samples were counted by Ultra LEGe detector with multi channel analyser. The adsorption capacities of the studied six mosses are found in descending order as Eurhynchium striatum, Hypnum cupressiforme, Pleurozium schreberi, Eurhynchium striatulum, Homalothecium sericeum and Thuidium tamariscinum. Then, we have regularized the Fe adsorption levels for the moss species obtained from different regions along one of the important coast highway in Turkey, namely Sarp-Samsun highway, with respect to the determined adsorption capacities