Spider webs in monitoring of air pollution

Abstract

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.

Bioindicators and human biomarkers as alternative approaches for cost-effective assessment of air pollution exposure

“…Spider webs have many advantages as they are cheap, organic, widely available, and non-selective i.e., they can accumulate various pollutants. They can be applied in both long-term and short-term monitoring (Rutkowski et al, 2018). The web can also be obtained from laboratory-bred spiders and then applied to indoor and outdoor studies with a defined time of exposure (Rachwał et al, 2018).…”

Air Pollution: A Review of Its Impacts on Health and Ecosystems, and Analytical Techniques for Their Measurement and Modeling

“…This approach allows for monitoring the presence or absence of air pollutants (Giordano et al, 2021). Additionally, the development of mathematical models and indices, such as the air pollution tolerance index, can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the role of plants in monitoring air pollution (Rutkowski et al, 2018).…”