Spider Webs and Lichens as Bioindicators of Heavy Metals: A Comparison Study in the Vicinity of a Copper Smelter (Poland)

Abstract

This paper presents the comparison of heavy metals accumulation in spider webs from Agelenidae family (Eratigena atrica and Agelena labyrinthica) and lichens Hypogymnia physodes, exposed to pollution for two months. Webs were obtained from the laboratory-reared spiders and stretched on Petri dish while lichens were transplanted from Stobrawa Landscape Park into the study area. Concentrations of Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb and As were determined in both biomonitors and the elevated values indicated the impact of the copper smelter and surrounding roads. Our study revealed that webs were more sensitive than lichens to emissions of pollutants, and for all of the studied elements, the determined concentrations were much higher for spider webs. The results of similarity tests showed a clear difference among the concentrations of Cu, Zn, Ni and As in lichens and spider webs, with the exception of Pb, suggesting that this element could be accumulated in a similar way by both bioindicators. These differences are probably due to their morphological and ecological dissimilarities suggesting that spider webs should be favorably applied where the use of lichens is improper due to the drought, which is an unfavorable condition for accumulation of elements in lichens, or their limited uptake of elements.

Assessment of Lichens as Biomonitors of Heavy Metal Pollution in Selected Mining Area, Slovakia

“…The total concentration of Cu in the Cladonia pyxidata was found to be 3.10 ± 0.92 and 46 ± 14.4 for a sample collected from the forest and spoil mine heap, respectively (Table 2). These results are in good agreement with previous studies explaining the effect of the surrounding environment on the heavy metals accumulation in lichens [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. On the other hand, the lowest concentration of Cu was found in Pseudevernia furfuracea collected from the forest site.…”

“…Lichens represent the dominant life form for about 8% of terrestrial ecosystems [1]. Recent studies have shown that Lichens species are widely used as biomonitoring for atmospheric heavy metals contamination [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

Air Pollution Research Based on Spider Web and Parallel Continuous Particulate Monitoring—A Comparison Study Coupled with Identification of Sources

“…In this region atmospheric aerosols can be characterized by the presence of Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn sulphides but also of metallurgical alloys varying in composition (Cu-Zn, Pb, Pb-Cu) [32]. Additionally, recent biomonitoring studies also provided the information about air contamination by Cu, Zn, and Pb in both of these regions [15,17]. In addition, an iron smelter-Małapanew in Ozimek can contribute to the air pollution by emitting the Fe particles to the atmosphere, however, from what is known for authors, now the activities in this area are much limited than in the past.…”

“…Additionally, the method is noninvasive and can be considered no waste. The possibility of the use of spider webs in assessing air quality has been performed before, and satisfying results were obtained [13][14][15][16][17]. The webs have already proved to be a good passive sampler in the case of potentially toxic elements [13,16,18,19] or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [20,21].…”

“…The papers mentioned above prove that spider webs are nowadays a subject of interest for many scientists. The results from spider webs were once compared with lichens [15] and once with mosses [22] proving that the element mass fractions are significantly higher for spider web which might suggest that webs could be used in all cases where the results for lichens or mosses are under the detection limit. There was also one intent aiming at the comparison of two selected metals with different fractions of PM obtained by cascade impactors of Harvard type.…”