Chapter 7
The Siliceous, Si and Phosphorus, P
Pranvera Lazo, Flora Qarri, Shaniko Allajbeu, Sonila Kane, Lirim Bekteshi,
Marina Frontasyeva, and Trajce Stafilov
Si is a major element of earth’s crust and a main soils’ consistuent. Si content in
soil varies from 1 to 45%, but it is non-soluble and is not bio-available for plants.
It is found as silicate minerals, alumino-silicates and silicon dioxide. Beside it, Si
is also sourced from silicon-rich materials of industrial wastes and plant biomass.
Environmental emissions of silica can arise from natural and anthropogenic sources
(Richards et al. 2009) particularly from industrial and farming activities (EPA/600/R95/115 1996). Si should be uptake by plants only in the form of silicic acid [Si(OH) 4 ]
or as the ionized form, Si(OH) 3 O
2− (Currie and Perry 2007; Tubaña and Heckman
2015). Silicon is also used as nutrient for fertilization in improving overall crop
productivity and health, but the amount of literature that documents the benefits of
silicon on the growth of a wide variety of agronomic and horticultural crops is vast
and continues to increase (Tubaña and Heckman 2015), and however, the process
that plants are able to transport silicon and to control its polymerization are not fully
understood (Currie and Perry 2007).
Si contents in moss samples varied from 1.32 to 6.08% (INAA Analysis), with
an average concentration of 3.23%. It shows a moderate variation (CV % = 35%),
low positive values of skeweness and negative value of kurtosis that indicate small
disparity of the concentration data with a centered tendency. Low differences were
observed among different areas (Fig. 7.1) and the distribution over the country looks
likely homogenous. The spatial anlysis of Si (linear model) shows a small decline
from the south to the north direction of the country (Si = 34659 − 130 × n, n
represents the number of sampling site) that is characterized by a small slope in the
linear model (a = 130 b = 34659 and n = 47) (Fig. 7.1).
Higher concentrations of Si compared to the other sampling sites were found
in the sampling sites (St. 2, 8, 16, 28, 45) positioned in the south, central part of
the country and in the North-East. The highest Si content was found in the moss
sample of St. 45, positioned in the North. Si did not show any correlation with other
elements in moss samples by indicating different behaviour from those, and or high
uncertainty of Si determination by ENAA analysis.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. Lazo et al., The Evaluation of Air Quality in Albania by Moss Biomonitoring and Metals
Atmospheric Deposition, SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62355-5_7
85
The Siliceous, Si and Phosphorus, P
Pranvera Lazo, Flora Qarri, Shaniko Allajbeu, Sonila Kane, Lirim Bekteshi,
Marina Frontasyeva, and Trajce Stafilov
Si is a major element of earth’s crust and a main soils’ consistuent. Si content in
soil varies from 1 to 45%, but it is non-soluble and is not bio-available for plants.
It is found as silicate minerals, alumino-silicates and silicon dioxide. Beside it, Si
is also sourced from silicon-rich materials of industrial wastes and plant biomass.
Environmental emissions of silica can arise from natural and anthropogenic sources
(Richards et al. 2009) particularly from industrial and farming activities (EPA/600/R95/115 1996). Si should be uptake by plants only in the form of silicic acid [Si(OH) 4 ]
or as the ionized form, Si(OH) 3 O
2− (Currie and Perry 2007; Tubaña and Heckman
2015). Silicon is also used as nutrient for fertilization in improving overall crop
productivity and health, but the amount of literature that documents the benefits of
silicon on the growth of a wide variety of agronomic and horticultural crops is vast
and continues to increase (Tubaña and Heckman 2015), and however, the process
that plants are able to transport silicon and to control its polymerization are not fully
understood (Currie and Perry 2007).
Si contents in moss samples varied from 1.32 to 6.08% (INAA Analysis), with
an average concentration of 3.23%. It shows a moderate variation (CV % = 35%),
low positive values of skeweness and negative value of kurtosis that indicate small
disparity of the concentration data with a centered tendency. Low differences were
observed among different areas (Fig. 7.1) and the distribution over the country looks
likely homogenous. The spatial anlysis of Si (linear model) shows a small decline
from the south to the north direction of the country (Si = 34659 − 130 × n, n
represents the number of sampling site) that is characterized by a small slope in the
linear model (a = 130 b = 34659 and n = 47) (Fig. 7.1).
Higher concentrations of Si compared to the other sampling sites were found
in the sampling sites (St. 2, 8, 16, 28, 45) positioned in the south, central part of
the country and in the North-East. The highest Si content was found in the moss
sample of St. 45, positioned in the North. Si did not show any correlation with other
elements in moss samples by indicating different behaviour from those, and or high
uncertainty of Si determination by ENAA analysis.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. Lazo et al., The Evaluation of Air Quality in Albania by Moss Biomonitoring and Metals
Atmospheric Deposition, SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62355-5_7
85