Responses of Different Test Objects to Experimental Soil Contamination with Crude Oil

Russian Journal of Ecology - Responses to contamination of several soil types with crude oil were comparatively analyzed in organisms of different trophic groups. Samples of soddy podzolic, light...     

Trace element content in soils of the King George and Elephant islands,maritime Antarctica

Trace element concentrations were studied in soils of the King George and Elephant islands in the maritime part of West Antarctica. The lowest concentrations of Cu, Pb, Cd, Zn, Ni and Mn were typical for the pristine soil of Elephant Island. The highest concentrations of these elements were found in the Fildes Peninsula and revealed the influence of human activities in the area of the Bellingshausen station and adjacent waste disposal sites. Ornithogenic soils of the Fildes Peninsula have shown low concentrations of Cd and As. Using geoaccumulation indexes, all the pristine soils of King George and Elephant islands and ornithogenic soils of the Fildes Peninsula were classified as unpolluted; the human-affected soils were mainly identified as moderately polluted. Obtained data can be used as background concentration levels for further researches.     

Interpretation of black sea sediments analytical data by the clustering approach

Analytical data consisting of chemical concentration of 11 inorganic components in 20 sampling stations from sediments collected from south‐western part of the Black Sea are treated by cluster analysis. The clustering reflects quite satisfactorily the relations between sampling zones and between chemical elements revealing new chemical and geochemical information.     

Environmetrical interpretation of analytical data of marine organisms from the black sea

The environmetrical analysis of the benthic organisms data set from a Black sea region has revealed new information concerning the chemical content and the bioindicating abilities of polychaeta (Melina palmata), Crustacea (Aspendopsis ostroumovi) and molluscs (Mytilus gallo‐provincialis). The application of various multivariate statistical approaches like cluster and principal component analysis, linear regression and partial least square modeling, source apportioning makes it possible to understand in a better way the properties of the benthic organism as collectors of pollutants in a total and a more specific mode. It is shown that heavily polluted coastal zones are indicated in the same way by all benthic species but some specificity could be detected when moderately polluted zones are considered. In this case polychaeta accumulated preferably Co, Cr, Cu and Pb Crustacea ‐ As, Cd and Ni and molluscs ‐ Zn to a limited extent.

PCA identified three latent factors (“anthropogenic flotation”;, “anthropogenic galvanic”; and “naturally occurring") which explain about 65% of the total variance of the system and determine the data set structure. The source apportioning on the absolute principal component scores proved that none of the metals is quantitatively linked with only one anthropogenic or natural source.

The linear regression and PLS models have indicated that a reliable prognosis of the pollution on some naturally occurring chemical components (e.g. linear regression on Zn for Cr and Ni) or combination of them (PLS modeling on Mn/Zn or on Mn/Zn/Fe for the rest of the pollutants) could be achieved.     

Assessment of metal pollution based on multivariate statistical modeling of 'hot spot' sediments from the Black Sea

The paper deals with application of different statistical methods like cluster and principal components analysis (PCA), partial least squares (PLSs) modeling. These approaches are an efficient tool in achieving better understanding about the contamination of two gulf regions in Black Sea. As objects of the study, a collection of marine sediment samples from Varna and Bourgas "hot spots" gulf areas are used. In the present case the use of cluster and PCA make it possible to separate three zones of the marine environment with different levels of pollution by interpretation of the sediment analysis (Bourgas gulf, Varna gulf and lake buffer zone). Further, the extraction of four latent factors offers a specific interpretation of the possible pollution sources and separates natural from anthropogenic factors, the latter originating from contamination by chemical, oil refinery and steel-work enterprises. Finally, the PLSs modeling gives a better opportunity in predicting contaminant concentration on tracer (or tracers) element as compared to the one-dimensional approach of the baseline models. The results of the study are important not only in local aspect as they allow quick response in finding solutions and decision making but also in broader sense as a useful environmetrical methodology.     

Latitudinal variation in size of freshwater pulmonate mollusks (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pulmonata) in Western Siberia

The size of shells in some freshwater pulmonate mollusk species abundant in Western Siberia (Lymnaea fragilis, L. terebra, Planorbis planorbis, and Anisus leucostoma) is relatively large in the south and decreases in the north. It is supposed that this phenomenon is explained by the fact that the season with conditions allowing the growth of mollusks is shorter in the north than in the south of Western Siberia.