Impact of technogenic pollution of urban environment on vitality indicators of urban biota (Mollusk fauna, soil mesofauna, epiphytic lichens)

Abstract

Abstract—The article presents results of ecological, chemical, and bioindication assessment of the urban ecosystem of an industrial city in the South of Ukraine. The dynamics of physical and chemical parameters of soil, surface water, and air in various functional areas of the city was analyzed. The complex pollution index for environmental components was determined. Bioindicative assessment of the ecological condition of the urban ecosystem was performed based on vitality parameters of epiphytic lichen flora, soil mesofauna, and freshwater mollusk fauna. Based on bioindicators’ vitality, zones with different ecological conditions were demarcated. Toxic effects of various pollutants on living organisms and tolerance of some bioindicator species under anthropogenic pressure were analyzed. It was found that the amount of zoophages increases and homogenization of anamorphoscope composition of major mesopedobionts groups with the dominance of individual species is observed in anthropogenically transformed areas. In alkaline soils of functional areas of the urban ecosystem, prevalence of calcicole species—millipedes, pill bugs, and gastropods—was noted, which allows them to be used as soils’ alkalization level indicators. The degree of correlation between the viability of bioindicator groups and complex pollution index of basic components of the urban environment was determined. For instance, an inverse correlation between the vitality of epiphytic lichen flora (G, %) and the complex atmospheric air environmental contamination index (Pa) (–0.80, p < 0.05); and a direct correlation between the decline in the vitality of soil mesofauna (\(\overline G \), %) and complex soil contamination index (Zs) (0.84, p < 0.05) were discovered. Therefore, biomorphs of epiphytic lichen flora and some groups of mesopedobionts can be used as pollution indicators for urban environments. Based on the study results, an algorithm for complex ecological, chemical, and bioindication assessment of ecological condition of an urban ecosystem in an industrial city was proposed.