The adsorption of copper on passive biomonitors (devitalized mosses Hypnum sp., Sphagnum denticulatum, Pseudoscleropodium purum and Brachytheciurn rutabulum) was studied under different experimental conditions such as a function of pH and Cu concentration in solution. Cu assimilation by living Physcomitrella patents was also investigated. Molecular structure of surface adsorbed and incorporated Cu was studied by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS). Devitalized mosses exhibited the universal adsorption pattern of Cu as a function of pH, with a total binding sites number 0.05-0.06 mmolg(dry)(-1) and a maximal adsorption capacity of 0.93-1.25 mmolgdry-1 for these devitalized species. The Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) fit of the first neighbor demonstrated that for all studied mosses there are similar to 4.5 O/N atoms around Cu at similar to 1.95 A likely in a pseudo-square geometry. The X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) analysis demonstrated that Cu(II)-cellulose (representing carboxylate groups) and Cu(II)-phosphate are the main moss surface binding moieties, and the percentage of these sites varies as a function of solution pH. P. patens exposed during one month to Cu2+ yielded similar to 20% of Cu(I) in the form of Cu-S(CN) complexes, suggesting metabolically-controlled reduction of adsorbed and assimilated Cu2+. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.