Air quality for metals and sulfur in Shanghai, China, determined with moss bags

In order to better understand the spatial and temporal distribution pattern of metals and sulfur present in Shanghai, moss bags with Haplocladium microphyllum (Hedw.) Broth. were suspended at 14 local monitoring stations from April through June 2006 in Shanghai, the largest city in China. The results showed that the concentrations of S, Cu, Pb, and Zn in the moss bags after exposure were higher at the sites in the industrial district and most urban districts and lower at the sites in suburban areas, and well correlated with SO(2) API and PM10 API in the air both in terms of space and time. The present study provided evidence that the moss H. microphyllum is suitable for bio-monitoring air pollution with moss bags and further confirmed that the moss-bag method is a simple, inexpensive and useful technique.