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Rapid industrial development is connected with technical improvement and modern solutions which diminish its adverse environmental impact globally. Although this progress is significant and does not degrade the environment the historical contaminants are still present which can significantly affect human health. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on the areas where industrial activities lasted a long time. Among industries, the chemical sector can have a severe environmental impact, including process production and waste. Hence, this study aimed to assess Złotniki Chemical Works S.A. impact on the environment and residents' health risks as this plant was present in this area for years. Findings show significant environmental impact and possible health risks to inhabitants due to high metal concentrations in the studied soil samples. High concentrations of lead, zinc, and copper were recorded. Despite advanced technologies, continuous industrial activity monitoring is crucial for local community safety and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional methods of air pollution monitoring require substantial investment in equipment and infrastructure. However, efficient and cost-effective alternatives offer promising solutions for region-specific pollution assessments and understanding their impact on local populations. This review explores examples of low-cost monitoring methods, focusing on natural bioindicators, human interaction-based techniques, and the outcomes associated with air pollution exposure. Bioindicators such as spider webs, lichens, mosses, and Tradescantia pallida (T. pallida) are discussed as potential tools for air pollution monitoring. Human biomonitoring techniques, including the micronucleus assay and the assessment of pulmonary anthracosis, are examined for their ability to provide valuable insights into genotoxic effects and long-term exposure. The advantages and limitations of each method are highlighted. The review advocates for continued research and development to refine these approaches, with the aim of mitigating the adverse health impacts of air pollution on both individuals and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article characterizes first general geological (lithological-stratigraphical) maps presenting Quaternary deposits in Northern Poland. These were the maps of territory of the Prussian partition, elaborated by German geologists from Prussian Geological Survey “Königlich Preussische Geologische Landesanstalt”. After Poland regained its independence they became a basis for many Polish geological publications. The article discusses the chronology and objectives of the main cartographic works of German geologists operating in the area of present-day Northern Poland (general and detailed geological maps) and briefly presents the methodology of geological mapping of lowlands at the scale of 1:25,000.

Urban road dust is an increasingly important source of air pollution and poses a serious threat to human health. In Poland, the urban road dust (URD) problem is enhanced by the use of old generation transport vehicles and transport systems. Seasonal variation in URD-bound elements is not well-known in Poland and controlling their pollution level can be a tough task. Therefore, studies on winter dust pollution will help to understand the sources of URD and take appropriate measures to reduce road dust emissions in the future. We analysed the relative content of heavy metals in two representative regions of Poland, Lower and Upper Silesia, and evaluated the sources of the contamination with the following pollution indices: Enrichment Factor (EF), Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo), pollution index (PI), and Pollution Load Index (PLI). We assessed the health risk for inhabitants due to the exposure to toxic metals through URD. We found that both studied regions are quite heavily polluted in winter. Our studies clearly show that the URD-bound elements level is much higher in Upper Silesia than in Lower Silesia in winter. The results of this study are useful for researchers to bridge the gap on the pollution of elements in URD from Poland, where there is a lack of such data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the impact of PCC “Rokita” chemical industry on the natural environment has been studied. Samples of water, soil and sediment taken nearby industry were analyzed with ecotoxicological tests.. We used Avena sativa for study the impact of industry on producers and to evaluate soil quality. Additionally the commercial test, Phytotoxkit, test was conducted. Water quality was assessed using Tubifex tubifex and Daphnia magna/ Sediment’s quality was assessed with the application of Ostracodtoxkit F test (Heterocypris incongruens). Conducted ecotoxicological tests proved that the studied area surrounding PCC “Rokita” is still contaminated with organic toxic compounds we observed mortality in water and soil of organisms tested. The fighest impact of toxicants was recorded for sediments suggesting accumulation of toxicants over many years.

In this study we assessed the metabolic reaction of mealworms to toxic metals Cu and Pb alone or delivered with carrots as an additional source of water and minerals. We compared our results with metabolic reaction of mealworms to food shortage. We recorded the highest morality and mass loss in culture contaminated with Pb (in relation to Cu contamination) proving the greatest impact of this metal on metabolism of mealworms. The great decrease in protein, carbohydrates and lipid content was observed in this variant (mealworms fed with food contaminated with Pb) as well. The slight positive effect of carrot addition was observed for larvae fed with both metals. Starvation had similar but slighter effect as Pb on metabolism as starved larvae were characterised by high, but not the highest decrease of protein, carbohydrates and lipid content. The studies proved that metal contamination could have great impact on metabolism of mealworms which is a key issue when we consider these insects as a source of proteins in place of vertebrates.

The release of such contaminants as metals into aquatic environment and its accumulation in sediment is a great concern due to the potential effect to the whole ecosystem. Water biocoenosis can change completely with the introduction metals into the water course. The aim of the study was to compare the water quality of three small streams contaminated with arsenic on the basis of multimetric diatom index IO and microbiotest designed to evaluate sediment toxicity (The Ostracodtoxkit F). The quality of three small streams located within Złoty Stok community in Lower Silesia (SW, Poland) has never been assessed with the biological methods before. What is more, the impact of arsenic on water biocoenosis has been rarely studied worldwide. Such studies have not been conducted before in Poland. The findings showed that each of used method classifies similarly three studied streams. The obtained results confirmed that the biological methods are the most reliable in the assessment of water quality.

Biomonitoring is a significant tool of environmental protection strategies. Variety of bioindicators are used worldwide, particularly mosses, lichens and tree leaves. However, they revile many considerable disadvantages, e.g. limitation to vegetative season, moisture demand, exposition to severe weather conditions, limited time of monitoring. Classical impactors, on the other hand, are expensive, cannot be used without supervision and allow only for short-term monitoring. Spider webs, however, reveal features of extraordinary bioindicators. Webs are abundant, easy to collect, costless and can be found all year round, despite vegetative season. Spider silk is a very efficient, non-selective accumulator of contaminants, that allows for long-term monitoring. Thanks to this characteristics, spider webs proved to be immensely useful bioindicators of air pollution. They allow for monitoring of heavy metals, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins, so as assessment of mutagenic activity and anthropopression assessment and indication of dominant source of pollutants. Most of the researches concerning application of spider webs as bioindicators have been conducted in Wrocław, Poland. This paper reviews current knowledge on spider webs in monitoring of air pollution.

The application of spider webs for determination of polichlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins (PCDDs) has been studied for the first time. The aim of the studies was to find out if spider webs are suitable for such examinations as it was proved in the previous research they are excellent indicators of air pollutants. Spiders are ubiquitous, thus collection of samples is easy and non-invasive. Studies were conducted within the city of Wrocław and surroundings, one of the biggest and at the same time heaviest polluted city in Poland. Five research sites have been chosen, where spider webs were collected after 60 days of continuous exposure time. Webs belonging to two genera Tegenaria sylvestris and Tegenaria ferruginea (family Agelenidae) have been chosen as they are large and very dense, thus they are very suitable for such examinations. Webs were found to retain dioxins probably mainly by external exposure. These promising results should be continued and expanded in the future research.

Air pollution is one of the most urgent problems of modern world, eventually causing the premature death of millions people every year. One of the burdens due to exposure to air pollutants is a lung cancer. It is necessary to develop new effective methods of carcinogen monitoring. The aim of the study was to evaluate if spider webs are suitable for the assessment of air mutagenicity by Ames MPF™ test. It is the first time spider webs had been incorporated into Ames MPF™ procedure. Webs of two spider species Araneus diadematus and Agelena labyrinthica have been collected at four sites exposed to high pollutants emission. Salmonella typhimurium TA98 strain without metabolic fraction have been used for the assay. All samples exhibited mutagenic activity most likely due to the road traffic. Webs of A. labyrinthica have shown higher mutagenicity effects at the tested sites in comparison to A. diadematus, plausibly because of the longer exposition time. The results are most promising and indicate high potential of combining spider webs and MPF™ procedure for assessing the mutagenic properties of urban air pollution.

Methods for using spider webs as passive air samplers have been developed over recent years and reported in more than a dozen articles. In this article, we present the typical procedures followed when using this new tool and critically review its application in air pollution assessment. To understand the state of research and application of spider webs in this field, we describe some advantages and disadvantages of their use in the analyses of air contaminants. The aim is to summarize the current knowledge on this subject, highlight gaps in the present studies, and arouse the interest of scientists on this issue. The increased effort could result in the standardization of the method at the national and international level. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:32–44. © 2022 SETAC KEY POINTS: This review proves that spider webs can be successfully used in biomonitoring studies of air pollution, and they give good results in terms of concentration of potentially toxic elements as well as PAHs.Despite the great potential of spider webs, it seems it will still be a long time before this tool becomes widely used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities are growing in size with a rise in the population, the amount of plastic waste generated is increasing and becoming unmanageable. The treatment and disposal of plastic waste is an urgent need of our present and future. It has been proved recently that mealworms, the larvae of Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus, are able eat styrofoam, a common polystyrene product. Polystyrene is one of the most widely used plastics, the scale of its production being several million tons per year. Tenebrio molitor is one of the largest pests found in stored-grain products. The insect is indigenous to Europe, but is currently cosmopolitan in distribution. The styrofoam is efficiently degraded in the larval gut by microorganisms. We have used the larvae of T. molitor to biodegrade three types of food packaging plastics: polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polylactide (PLA). PVC is a thermoplastic made of 57% chlorine (derived from industrial grade salt) and 43% carbon (derived predominantly from oil /gas via ethylene). It is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer, which is not biodegradable easily. On the other hand, PLA is an easily biodegradable and bioactive thermoplastic aliphatic polyester derived from corn and tapioca starch or sugarcane. Three groups of larvae were fed selected types of polymers as an only food, while a control population was fed on oatmeal. The mass loss, dry matter content and biochemical composition of mealworms were assessed in the performed laboratory experiments. The protein concentration in homogenates of the larvae was determined by the Bradford method. To determine the level of hydrolized carbohydrates we used anthrone method. The classical sulfo-phospho-vanillin assay (SPVA) was used to quantitate total lipids in mealworms. The results allowed to compare the decomposition efficiency of selected polymer materials by mealworms and to recognize the mechanism of decomposition contributing to the future use of these animals for the treatment and disposal of plastic waste.