Abstract
The spider webs of Malthonica ferruginea (Panzer, 1804) from the Agelenidae family were used for the evaluation of heavy metal contamination, and major and trace elements presence in the air of Wrocław, Poland. The concentrations of 16 elements were determined (Mg, Al, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, W, Pt, and Pb). Samples of webs were collected from six different locations with low, moderate, and high pollution level (urban of low and high traffic, residential, and postindustrial sites) after 60 days of exposure. Samples collected from high traffic sites and postindustrial site were found to have high contents of elements than residential sites and one of low traffic urban site. The principle component analysis (PCA) and correlation analysis provide important information about the potential sources of the elements in spider webs. Two contamination sources were identified: road traffic emissions and industrial. This was a first-time ever attempt to use webs for biomonitoring of small-scale distribution of airborne major and trace elements in the city of Wrocław.
Highlights
Major and trace elements, especially heavy metals, are nowadays of much environmental concern
105 Page 2 of 12 proved that the use of reference gravimetric method was less effective than the application of mosses in estimating emission of heavy metals from chimneys (Olszowski and Bożym 2014)
The application of webs in urban environment was only studied by Rybak et al (Rybak 2012; Rybak et al 2012; Rybak and Olejniczak 2014), but authors focused mainly on organic pollutants and only preliminary studies were done on three heavy metals related to traffic emissions (Zn, Pb, and Pt)
Summary
Especially heavy metals, are nowadays of much environmental concern. 105 Page 2 of 12 proved that the use of reference gravimetric method was less effective than the application of mosses in estimating emission of heavy metals from chimneys (Olszowski and Bożym 2014). In contrast to these reference methods, web structure and their all-year-round availability enables an easy and long-term assessment of the air pollution level in a randomly selected places. In the urban environment, naturally growing mosses, lichens, or plants are usually missing, in contrary to spiders who willingly weave their webs in polluted areas which are devoid of sun (e.g., tunnels, road canyons)
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