Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2009
Soil, moss, and conifer twig and needle, samples were collected along an urban-suburdan transect in Connecticut. All samples were analyzed for mercury content. In general, both the mosses and tree tissues contained higher concentrations of mercury than did the soil. Except for the plant samples collected at the origin of the transect adjacent to an electric generating facility, where the mercury in a moss exceeded that in a Juniperus virginiana tree, the floral components that were sampled proved comparable. Moss sampling would probably give the more reliable indication of urban-industrial mercury contamination.