Plagiochasma appendiculatum as a biotest for water quality assessment

A thalloid pathogen-free liverwort, Plagiochasma appendiculatum, was expose d to different pollution stresses, especially heavy metals, synthesized in the laboratory, to simulate pollutants reported to occur in industrial area s. The plant was found to be sensitive to mercury and copper. Thallus injur y and chlorophyll content showed effects with increasing exposure to metals . In contrast, the plant was found to be resistant to lead, zinc and chromi um. The plant showed growth in some concentrations of these metals, hence s uggesting their accumulation. In this paper, the possible use of Plagiochas ma in the assessment of water quality, especially for heavy metals, is disc ussed, with special reference to thallus deterioration as a simple biomonit oring parameter. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.