Mercury or hydrargyrum (Hg) is an important neurotoxin for living organisms. Small doses of mercury can cause various disorders of the nervous system. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has established recommended levels of mercury in hair (<1 mg / kg). The main source of mercury for human body is fish. In the period from 2017 to 2018, 231 residents of the coastal region of North-West Russia were examined for the determination of mercury in their hair. The average mercury content in the hair was 1.139 mg / kg. No difference in the level of mercury between men (mean = 1.222 mg / kg) and women (mean = 1.099 mg / kg) was found. The smallest amount of mercury is noted in the hair of people under 27 years old (0.579 mg / kg). A correlation was established between the amount of mercury in the hair and the amount of fish consumption. The concentration of mercury in the hair of people who consume fish several times a week (2.001 mg / kg) is 2 times higher than in the hair of people who consume fish less than 1 time per month is (1.070 mg / kg).

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Mercury is a highly toxic metal for all living organisms. Even low doses of the organic form of mercury can cause disruption in some functions of the human body. The content of mercury in the hair of residents (n=71) of Babushkinsky district, Vologda region, Russia was determined. Babushkinsky district is located away from industrial sources of mercury. Mercury concentrations were determined using a mercury analyzer RA-915M. The average mercury content in the hair of residents of Babushkinsky district, Vologda region was 0.398 mg/kg. 8% of the study participants had mercury levels in their hair above 1 mg/kg. There were no differences in the content of mercury in the hair between males (0.540 mg/kg) and females (0.344 mg/kg). The differences were established depending on age: under 30 years old (0.208 mg/kg), over 30 years (0.582 mg/kg). There is also a correlation between mercury in the hair and age. People who eat fish several times a week have twice as much mercury (0.538 mg/kg) as people who eat fish less than once a month (0.262 mg/kg).

An important property of green spaces is the ability to capture dust particles from the atmosphere, thereby reducing its pollution. The main organs adsorbing dust are leaves, therefore, in this work, the dust-retaining capacity of woody plants was determined by leaves. These studies are relevant for the selection of an assortment of woody plants with increased dust-holding capacity for urban areas. The research work presents data on the dust-holding ability of the leaves of the following plant species of the industrial area of Cherepovets: Betula pendula, Crataegus sp., Quercus robur, Acer platanoides, Acer negundo, Tilia platyphyllos, Sorbus aucuparia, Malus sp., Cornus alba. To determine the amount of dust deposited by plant leaves, in the summer of 2022, leaf plates similar in morphology and age were collected in the industrial area of Cherepovets. According to the results of the study, the leaf surface has the highest dust-holding capacity of Betula pendula – 6.16 g/m2, the leaf surface of Sorbus aucuparia has the lowest dust-holding capacity is 0.87 g/m2.