Preface
Global pollution and climate changes are tightly linked with air pollution which is
among the most serious problems in the world that refers to the entrance of the
harmful contaminants, such as chemicals or biological materials, in the atmosphere.
Currently, some of the most significant sources include metal industry, other
manufacturing industries and construction, electricity and heat production, road
transportation and petroleum refining. Air pollution is sourced by local emission
sources and long-range transport of the pollutants. It can cause long-term and
short-term health effects and environmental damages, particularly to the most
vulnerable groups of children, old people and the people with chronic diseases. Air
pollution could also causes the damages of the ecosystems, which is followed with
the damages of the crops, the loss of the agricultural productivity (Harmens et al.
2015) and the loss of the biodiversity. The studies concern the accumulation of
heavy metals in ecosystems and their impacts on the environment and human
health, increased during the 1980s and 1990s (Harmens et al. 2015).
In the recent days, it is also hypothesized that viral problems are also linked with
air pollution. An example is the Northern Italy that has been constantly exposed to
chronic air pollution among the most impacted parts of the Europe from
SARS-CoV-2 where the long-term air-quality data significantly correlated with
cases of COVID-19 in up to 71 Italian provinces (updated 27 April 2020) (Fattorini
and Regoli 2020). These providing further evidence that chronic exposure to
atmospheric contamination may represent a favour context for spreading of the
virus (Fattorini and Regoli 2020).
This book provides an overview of air quality in Albania evaluated by moss
biomonitoring and metal atmospheric deposition based on the concentration data of
51 elements in moss samples collected during 2010/2011 moss biomonitoring
survey conducted at the same time with similar study conducted in European scale.
The moss survey provides a complementary method to assess spatial patterns and
temporal trends of atmospheric deposition of air pollutants to the vegetation (based
on monitoring in the field) and to identify areas at risk from air pollution at a high
spatial resolution that reports on the effects of air pollutants to the natural vegetation
and crops (Harmens et al. 2015a).
vii
Global pollution and climate changes are tightly linked with air pollution which is
among the most serious problems in the world that refers to the entrance of the
harmful contaminants, such as chemicals or biological materials, in the atmosphere.
Currently, some of the most significant sources include metal industry, other
manufacturing industries and construction, electricity and heat production, road
transportation and petroleum refining. Air pollution is sourced by local emission
sources and long-range transport of the pollutants. It can cause long-term and
short-term health effects and environmental damages, particularly to the most
vulnerable groups of children, old people and the people with chronic diseases. Air
pollution could also causes the damages of the ecosystems, which is followed with
the damages of the crops, the loss of the agricultural productivity (Harmens et al.
2015) and the loss of the biodiversity. The studies concern the accumulation of
heavy metals in ecosystems and their impacts on the environment and human
health, increased during the 1980s and 1990s (Harmens et al. 2015).
In the recent days, it is also hypothesized that viral problems are also linked with
air pollution. An example is the Northern Italy that has been constantly exposed to
chronic air pollution among the most impacted parts of the Europe from
SARS-CoV-2 where the long-term air-quality data significantly correlated with
cases of COVID-19 in up to 71 Italian provinces (updated 27 April 2020) (Fattorini
and Regoli 2020). These providing further evidence that chronic exposure to
atmospheric contamination may represent a favour context for spreading of the
virus (Fattorini and Regoli 2020).
This book provides an overview of air quality in Albania evaluated by moss
biomonitoring and metal atmospheric deposition based on the concentration data of
51 elements in moss samples collected during 2010/2011 moss biomonitoring
survey conducted at the same time with similar study conducted in European scale.
The moss survey provides a complementary method to assess spatial patterns and
temporal trends of atmospheric deposition of air pollutants to the vegetation (based
on monitoring in the field) and to identify areas at risk from air pollution at a high
spatial resolution that reports on the effects of air pollutants to the natural vegetation
and crops (Harmens et al. 2015a).
vii