Development of the software tool Sample Size for Arbitrary Distributions and exemplarily applying it for calculating minimum numbers of moss samples used as accumulation indicators for atmospheric deposition

Environmental Sciences Europe

Table 5 Element-specific minimum sample numbers (MSN) and actual sample sizes (n) calculated for Germany’s federal states using Moss Survey 2015 data

Federal state	As			Cd			Cr			Cu			Fe			Hg
Federal state	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M
BW	149	30	C	156	30	C	45	29	C	80	30	C	17	30	C	186	30	C
BY	87	60	C	50	60	C	81	59	C	56	60	C	10	60	C	68	60	C
BB	11	28	C	11	28	C	10	28	C	19	28	C	10	28	C	10	28	C
HH	33	3	A	12	3	A	3	3	A	5	3	A	2	3	A	4	3	A
HE	81	28	C	74	28	C	23	28	C	34	28	C	20	28	C	31	28	C
MV	48	24	B	23	24	A	5	24	A	43	24	B	9	24	A	28	24	B
NI	50	57	C	40	57	C	35	57	C	35	57	C	13	57	C	38	57	C
NW	49	48	C	24	46	C	31	48	C	43	47	C	13	48	C	21	48	C
RP	163	19	B	86	19	B	25	19	B	15	19	B	6	19	A	29	19	B
SL	95	6	B	228	6	B	53	6	A	18	6	A	3	6	A	37	6	B
SN	41	29	C	93	29	C	165	29	C	30	29	C	10	29	C	38	29	C
ST	33	29	C	36	29	C	51	29	C	21	29	C	21	29	C	21	29	C
SH	23	20	B	50	20	B	34	20	B	33	20	B	19	20	B	22	20	B
TH	14	19	A	23	19	A	21	19	A	10	19	A	2	19	A	9	19	A
Sum	877	400		906	398		582	398		442	399		155	400		542	400
Count		3			5			6			7			14			5
%		21			36			43			50			100			36

Federal state	N			Ni			Pb			Sb			V			Zn
Federal state	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M	MSN	n	M
BW	23	29	C	10	30	C	37	30	C	156	30	C	20	30	C	117	30	C
BY	26	60	C	10	60	C	96	60	C	58	60	C	31	58	C	52	60	C
BB	10	28	C	10	28	C	14	28	C	12	28	C	49	28	C	17	28	C
HH	8	3	B	1	3	A	1	3	A	12	3	A	3	3	A	9	3	A
HE	13	28	C	10	28	C	85	28	C	50	28	C	23	27	C	36	28	C
MV	23	24	A	6	24	A	36	24	B	10	24	A	81	24	B	51	24	B
NI	80	57	C	10	57	C	17	57	C	69	57	C	28	57	C	35	57	C
NW	19	47	C	10	48	C	26	48	C	43	48	C	26	48	C	25	48	C
RP	13	18	B	2	19	A	21	19	B	38	19	B	11	19	A	31	19	B
SL	5	6	B	3	6	B	21	6	A	39	6	B	3	6	A	25	6	B
SN	29	29	C	10	29	C	42	29	C	63	29	C	46	29	C	35	29	C
ST	20	29	C	10	29	C	22	29	C	70	29	C	27	29	C	24	29	C
SH	25	20	B	7	20	B	43	20	B	63	20	B	52	20	B	16	20	A
TH	16	19	B	5	19	A	23	19	A	88	19	B	7	19	A	12	19	A
Sum	310	397		103	400		484	400		771	400		407	397		485	400
Count		11			14			6			6			10			7
%		79			100			43			43			71			50

Italic numbers = MSN met or exceeded; Count = number of federal states where MSN met or exceeded; % = percentage of federal states where MSN met or exceeded; M = method; A = method A according to ICP Vegetation [1]; B = method B according to Wosniok ([11], cited in [8]); C = method C = SSAD method (Sample Size for Arbitrary Distributions)