0000000000134304
AUTHOR
Grzegorz Kosior
Trace elements in native and transplanted Fontinalis antipyretica and Platyhypnidium riparioides from rivers polluted by uranium mining.
The past uranium/polymetallic mining activities in the Sudety (SW Poland) left abandoned mines, pits, and dumps of waste rocks with trace elements and radionuclides which may erode or leach out and create a potential risk for the aquatic ecosystem, among others. In the present work four rivers affected by effluents from such mines were selected to evaluate the application of aquatic mosses for the bioindication of 56 elements. Naturally growing F. antipyretica and P. riparioides were compared with transplanted samples of the same species. The results demonstrate serious pollution of the examined rivers, especially with As, Ba, Fe, Mn, Pb, Ti, U and Zn, reaching extremely high concentrations…
Characteristics of Acute Toxicity Dynamics of Selected Toxicants on Aquatic Crustaceans
Abstract Determining the value of a half-effective or half-life concentration or dose of toxicant is the main purpose of acute toxicity studies, and this is also the most commonly used value in the toxicity characteristics of substances. By conducting tests that meet the criteria and requirements for the determination of acute toxicity, due to the use of appropriate mathematical tools and concentrations resulting in complete lethal effects in the studied groups, considerably more important values can be achieved, which give a possibility for the analysis of the entire process’s dynamics, as well as determining the threshold values of the effect time and toxicant concentration. This was the …
The Use of Moss Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. as Bioindicator of Radionuclide Contamination in Industrial Areas of Upper Silesia
Abstract Mosses are good bioaccumulators of radionuclides and from the 60 of the last century, they are used as bioindicators of radioactive contamination in the environment. Concentration of impurities in moss represent the accumulation in mosses during the past 2-3 years. As a result, the moss composition analysis provides information on an average contamination within a few vegetation seasons. During our survey the measurements of radionuclide activity concentrations in P. schreberi transplanted from places relatively clean to heavily contaminated areas of Upper Silesia were carried out. An increase in the radionuclides activity concentrations in P. schreberi transplants may indicate not…
The Moss Biomonitoring Method and Neutron Activation Analysis in Assessing Pollution by Trace Elements in Selected Polish National Parks
The concentrations of trace elements in feather moss Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt. were used to indicate the relative levels of air pollution by trace elements in Polish national parks. Pleurozium schreberi was collected from nine national parks. The highest concentrations were recorded in the moss samples from the southern and most industrialised part of the country; the lowest from northern and north-eastern Poland. A comparison of data obtained from Polish national parks in the 1970s and 1990s showed a significant decrease in the concentrations of heavy metals. In the linear covariability estimation, the t quantile approach was used for multi-element comparison. A number of positive…
Nuclear analytical techniques used to study the trace element content of Centaurium erythraea Rafn, a medicinal plant species from sites with different pollution loads in Lower Silesia (SW Poland)
Centaurium erythraea (Gentianaceae) is a medicinal plant species with therapeutic potential officially listed in the pharmacopoeias of many European, Asian and American countries. It has had many uses in natural medicine since ancient times and it is collected mostly from wild populations. The aim of this study is to investigate the trace element composition of C. erythraea using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). The results of the performed investigations show that INAA has proved to be an efficient analytical technique for the determination of trace elements in medicinal plants. The studied plant contains elements important to the human diet and metabolism that are needed f…
The influence of preparation methodology on the concentrations of heavy metals in Pleurozium schreberi moss samples prior to use in active biomonitoring studies
AbstractActive biomonitoring is used to assess environmental pollution of elements such as heavy metals by indicator species such as mosses. They are used, among others, in urbanized areas where no indicator species are found. In such study areas, mosses collected from sites considered to be ecologically clean shall be exposed. In this context, it is very important to prepare the mosses properly before the exposure, so that the information received about the condition of the environment is reliable. In 2018, studies were conducted in the forested areas of southern Poland—in Opolskie Province. Pleurozium schreberi mosses were used in these studies. Atomic absorption spectrometry with flame a…