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Atmosphere
Special Issues
Biomonitoring Air Pollution for a Healthier Planet
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Biomonitoring Air Pollution for a Healthier Planet

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Pollution Control".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2026 | Viewed by 1824

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Maria Grazia Alaimo

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DiSTeM), Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Interests: biomonitoring; trace elements; pollen; applied botany
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Daniela Varrica

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DiSTeM), Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90123 Palermo, Italy
Interests: different aspects of environmental geochemistry; ranging from hydrogeochemistry to air; water and soil pollution in volcanic; mining and anthropic areas
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Attention to the environment and its problems has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. This is mainly due to a reinterpretation of the relationship between man and the environment, which has favored a changed attitude toward environmental problems and opened new opportunities for scientific reflection.

Among the Earth's four environmental spheres—the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere—the atmosphere, a critical component of our environment, plays a central role in regulating air quality, climate, and ecosystem health. Understanding atmospheric processes—including the emission, transport, transformation, and deposition of pollutants—is essential for addressing air pollution and its impacts on living organisms.

Biomonitoring, using living organisms to observe changes in environmental conditions, offers an effective method for detecting air pollutants and assessing their impacts on ecosystems and human health. Biomonitoring is a good tool for early detection of air pollution and plays a vital role in sustainable environmental management, with an emphasis on air pollution and its interactions with the biosphere. Some key areas of study within environment and biomonitoring include the following:

  • Air Pollution Monitoring: Using bioindicators like lichens and mosses to assess air quality and detect pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, ozone, and heavy metals.
  • Atmospheric Deposition and Environmental Toxicology: Studying the effects of atmospheric pollutants on living organisms, with a focus on toxicity levels and ecological risks linked to atmospheric deposition.
  • Integrating Biomonitoring with Atmospheric Modeling and Remote Sensing: Combining ground-based biological measurements with satellite data and atmospheric transport models to validate pollutant dispersion and improve source attribution.

By advancing our understanding of atmospheric pollution through biomonitoring, this Special Issue aims to contribute to healthier ecosystems and more effective pollution mitigation strategies.

Dr. Maria Grazia Alaimo
Dr. Daniela Varrica
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biomonitoring
  • ecosystem health
  • air pollution
  • environmental toxicology
  • atmospheric deposition

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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31 pages, 5995 KB  
Article
First Predictive Mapping of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Mosses Across Germany, 2020
by Stefan Nickel, Winfried Schröder and Annekatrin Dreyer
Atmosphere 2026, 17(3), 263; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos17030263 - 28 Feb 2026
Viewed by 312
Abstract
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are globally distributed toxic contaminants. Since 1990, mosses have been used in the UNECE European Moss Survey as cost-effective biomonitors of atmospheric deposition. This study provides the first predictive maps of POP concentrations in mosses, revealing nationwide contamination patterns [...] Read more.
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are globally distributed toxic contaminants. Since 1990, mosses have been used in the UNECE European Moss Survey as cost-effective biomonitors of atmospheric deposition. This study provides the first predictive maps of POP concentrations in mosses, revealing nationwide contamination patterns across Germany. As a case study within the Moss Survey, predictive models were built from POP concentrations measured at 21 sites in 2020 and combined with environmental and land-use data. Random Forest analyses explained more than 20% of the variance for seven of eleven POP groups, yielding robust spatial estimates, particularly for PAH, BDE 209, and DBDPE, despite moderate systematic differences. Explanatory power was limited for PCDD/F, PCDD/F TEQ values, DPTE, and HBBz, while HBCD, PBDE, DP, and PBT showed a moderate performance. A comparison with geostatistical reference maps indicated moderate to good concordance, though regional uncertainties persisted. Industrialized regions such as North Rhine–Westphalia, Rhine Neckar, Halle/Leipzig, and Saarland emerged as consistent hotspots, whereas rural and forested areas showed lower contamination. The findings highlight the value of moss surveys for spatial POP assessment and underscore the need for additional predictors, especially atmospheric deposition, and for integrating Random Forest models with geostatistical approaches such as regression kriging to enhance predictive accuracy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomonitoring Air Pollution for a Healthier Planet)
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28 pages, 1824 KB  
Article
Multivariate Analysis of Factors Influencing the Concentration of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Microplastics in Mosses Sampled Across Germany in 2020
by Stefan Nickel, Winfried Schröder, Annekatrin Dreyer, Christine Kube and Carmen Wolf
Atmosphere 2026, 17(2), 223; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos17020223 - 21 Feb 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 424
Abstract
Mosses (Bryophyta) are well-established biomonitors of atmospheric deposition, including persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and microplastics (MPs). Using German Moss Survey 2020 data, this study identified factors influencing POPs and MPs in mosses through correlation and random forest analyses. For 10 of 11 POP [...] Read more.
Mosses (Bryophyta) are well-established biomonitors of atmospheric deposition, including persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and microplastics (MPs). Using German Moss Survey 2020 data, this study identified factors influencing POPs and MPs in mosses through correlation and random forest analyses. For 10 of 11 POP groups, the models explained a variance of more than 20%. Key predictors included atmospheric deposition and the density of urban–industrial and agricultural land uses within 100–300 km. Population density and the density of extraction and dump sites within radii of <5 km (PCDD/Fs, PCDD/F TEQ values, HBCD, 23 PBDEs, BDE-209, DBDPE, PBT, and HBBz), as well as distances to residential areas and transport infrastructure (PCDD/Fs, HBCD, PBDEs, DP, and DBDPE), also proved to be highly relevant, although a direct causal relationship seems unlikely for flame retardants. These findings indicate that POP concentrations in mosses are influenced not only by large-scale atmospheric deposition but also by local emission sources near sampling sites. Vegetation parameters, particularly the leaf area index, showed additional effects. For MP, only two polymer groups (SBR and PE) yielded models with sufficient predictive strength, again dominated by proximity to local sources. Minimum sample size analysis demonstrated that a denser sampling network is required to achieve a 20% tolerance error in future monitoring campaigns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomonitoring Air Pollution for a Healthier Planet)
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Review

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31 pages, 407 KB  
Review
A Scoping Review of Magnetic Iron Oxide Toxicity Across Animal Models: Mechanistic Insights, Particle Size Effects, and Implications for Air Pollution Biomonitoring
by Oscar R. Hernández-Montoya, Ana G. Castañeda-Miranda, Margarita L. Martínez-Fierro, Rodrigo Castañeda-Miranda, Remberto Sandoval-Aréchiga, Jose R. Gomez-Rodriguez, Héctor A. Guerrero-Osuna, Víktor I. Rodríguez-Abdalá, Luis A. Flores-Chaires and Salvador Ibarra-Delgado
Atmosphere 2026, 17(3), 290; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos17030290 - 12 Mar 2026
Viewed by 593
Abstract
Iron oxide particles (magnetite Fe3O4, hematite α-Fe2O3, and maghemite γ-Fe2O3) are prevalent constituents of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and have gained increasing attention due to potential health implications. This scoping review [...] Read more.
Iron oxide particles (magnetite Fe3O4, hematite α-Fe2O3, and maghemite γ-Fe2O3) are prevalent constituents of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and have gained increasing attention due to potential health implications. This scoping review provides a broad mapping of published in vivo and in vitro studies addressing the biological and toxicological effects of iron oxide particles across particle size fractions (PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0, and nanoscale) and exposure routes, including inhalation, intranasal instillation, and intravenous administration. As a scoping review, no formal risk-of-bias appraisal was conducted; however, studies were selected through predefined eligibility criteria and a structured screening workflow. Iron oxide exposure is consistently associated with oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, while mitochondrial dysfunction, genotoxicity, and neurological effects are frequently reported depending on particle characteristics and exposure context. Among studies with explicit crystalline phase identification, magnetite is most frequently associated with higher biological reactivity, whereas hematite and maghemite display more variable and context-dependent responses. Limited human evidence aligns with experimental findings, identifying magnetite-rich nanoparticles in neural and cardiovascular tissues alongside markers of oxidative and mitochondrial damage. Overall, this scoping review highlights dominant research trends, mechanistic pathways, and key knowledge gaps regarding iron oxide-containing PM, emphasizing the need for integrative approaches linking atmospheric particle characterization with toxicological research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomonitoring Air Pollution for a Healthier Planet)
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