Titanium in ombrotrophic Sphagnum mosses from various peat bogs of Germany and Belgium

Titanium concentrations and Ti inventories (total Ti in the sample) in living Sphagnum mosses from the surfaces of eight ombrotrophic peat bogs of five different regions of Germany and Belgium were studied over a period of two years (1995–7). Six to ten peat moss samples with a given surface area (100 cm2) and length (5 cm) were collected at different sites in the peat bogs studied several times (every six weeks to three months) during a year. Variability of Ti concentrations and inventories were determined within each peat bog for the species S. magellanicum, S. rubellum, S. papillosum, and S. cuspidatum, for the microhabitats 'lawn', 'slope' and 'hollow', as well as for the studied peat bogs of different regions and for each season. Likewise, Ti concentration values were determined for the moss plant segments: ‘capitulum’, ‘living green’ and ‘dead brown’. Ti concentrations and inventories were found to be highly variable, even in one species of the same peat bog and at the same time. Moreover, median Ti concentrations and inventories of different species and microhabitats were quite similar to one another. As a result, we suggest that more productive species might be able to accumulate more Ti onto their bigger surface areas than the less productive ones. Besides, Ti particles might be transported downwards with the water and accumulated by the mosses over a longer time period than only one year. To reliably specify the variations in the geochemistry of peat mosses on the peat bog surface the annual production of each collected Sphagnum sample has to be exactly known and samples of equal ages and time periods they were exposed to atmospheric deposition have to be studied.