Pekka Nuorteva

Toxic metals in forest biota around the steel works of Rautaruukki Oy, Raahe, Finland

The levels of Al, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd and Hg in bioindicators, which included eight species of plants, two species of bark beetles and three species of Formica ants, were studied in the coniferous forests around the Rautaruukki steel works, Raahe, Finland. The major objective was to determine the degree and extent of the metal deposition expressed by the different bioindicators. Samples were collected along 30 km long observation lines from the factory to the NE and the S, respectively. Mercury analyses were performed by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the other metals by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Elevated levels of Fe were detected in all bioindicators up to a distance of 10 km, and of Al, Zn and Cu up to a distance of 3 km from the steel works. The highest metal concentrations were observed in the epiphytic lichen (Hypogymnia physodes) and in the moss (Pleurozium schreberi) and included maxima of 28 000 mg kg−1 for Fe, 1500 mg kg−1 for Al and 900 mg kg−1 for Mn. According to the synthetic index of Grodzinska (1978), the pollution load of these multiple pollutants has reached the level at which forests are, in general, damaged. In the Raahe area, this damage potential covered a distance of up to 6 km to the NE and 3 km to the S. Bark beetles as well as Formica ants act as good bioindicators for Fe and Al, but not for other metals. This study shows that the best biological species for indicating air pollution from iron and steel works for the chosen metals are: H. physodes for Fe, Mn and Cu; P. schreberi and H. physodes for Zn and Al and M. bifolium for Cd.

Time-related effects of intoxication with cadmium and mercury in the red wood ant

Biochemical and physiological effects of prolonged feeding of the ant Formica aquilonia, in natural conditions with excess of cadmium or mercury, were studied. In all developmental stages metals caused the time-dependent increase of AMP, parallel with a decrease of ATP and the pool size of adenylates. This was reflected by a low adenylate energy charge (AEC) index and accompanied by an inhibition of ATPases. Despite the fall in the adenylate pool of workers, the levels of adenylate energy charge confirmed their ability to maintain energetic balance. Prolonged access to food highly contaminated with Cd, or Cd with Hg, diminished these adaptive abilities, but pre-adaptive reactions (not correlated with the metal load) were induced. Activity patterns of enzymes involved in energy metabolism showed metal dependent inhibitory effects, but repeated contamination evoked some compensatory mechanisms, both in workers and in the pupal stage from the next generations. Cadmium (indirectly) stimulated the esterases and free radical scavengers. Compensatory mechanisms were insufficient in insects contaminated with both Hg and Cd, even causing family disappearance, through increased mortality and migration to other colonies. Compensatory mechanisms expressed by the adult workers appeared to be of a phenotypic origin

The Effect of Metals on the Mortality of Parnassius Apollo Larvae (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

The population sizes and range of Parnassius apollo started to decline in Finland in the 1930s and resulted in complete extinction in many parts of its former range 30 years later. It has been suggested that metal pollution is one potentially very important reason for the decline. Recently, a recovery of P. apollo and widening of its range has started in the southwestern Finland, simultaneously with a decline in metal fallout from air. Metal analyses were performed with larval and host plant samples collected from an area where P. apollo is recolonising its former range (the archipelago between the island of Kemiö and the Hankoniemi peninsula). In the host plants (Sedum telephium), the level of Fe was significantly lower and the levels of Cd and Zn suggestively lower in the current range (n = 35) of P. apollo than in the former range (n = 12). Analyses on larvae of P. apollo (n = 29) showed lower levels of Cd, Fe and Mn than in the host plant leaves. The excretion of these metals, as well as Zn, via the faeces was effective. The level of the Cd-antagonist Cu was considerably higher in caterpillars than in the food. When caterpillars were fed with metal-polluted food from Helsinki city (4.35 ppm Cd/dwt; n = 5) they died, whereas control individuals fed with food from the archipelago (2.49 ppm Cd/dwt; n = 5) survived. These results indicate that metals may play an important role in the large-scale decline and partial recovery of P. apollo in the western Europe.

DEHP in the vicinity of an industrial area in Finland

Abstract Samples of fish, net plankton, freshwater and soil arthropods and soil obtained in the vicinity of an industrial area were analysed for di-(2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate (DEHP) content. The highest concentration was found in soil arthropods (2·8 mg/kg). No contamination was discovered in plankton, but the levels of contamination in other organisms were as follows: 0·1 mg/kg in small fish (fry and sticklebacks), freshwater arthropods, molluscs and perch (Perca fluviatilis); 0·5 mg/kg in bream (Abramis brama) and 1·1 mg/kg in roach (Rutilus rutilus). The muscle and kidney of pike (Esox lucius) were free from contamination but the contamination of pikes liver was equivalent to 2·3 mg/kg.

Physiological disturbances in ants (Formica aquilonia) from excess of cadmium and mercury in a Finnish forest

Abstract Since red wood ants ( Formica sp.) easily cumulate heavy metals they are important chains in the transfer of metals in a forest ecosystem. The authors introduced high amounts of cadmium and/or methyl mercury to selected colonies of Formica aquilonia by artificial feeding, and by studying changes in the pool phosphoadenylate nucleotides and assays of enzymes known as good indicators of heavy metal toxicity estimated their detrimental effects in workers and the pupae from a spruce forest in Southern Finland. Cadmium exhibited strong inhibitory effects, proportional to its body burdens, in foraging workers but also in pupae of the next generation, acting much stronger than methyl-mercury. Surplus of both metals offered concomitantly, showed cumulative toxic effects. They were expressed by reduced levels of ADP and ATP with increased concentrations of AMP, decreased adenylate energy charge (AEC), parallel to inhibition of some metabolic pathways, confirmed by the enzyme assays. Reversely, activity of aminotransferases and esterases was higher than in ants from control nests. An increase of availability of heavy metals in forests, where their natural background is recently low but climatic conditions are more severe than in Central Europe, might appear a significant stressing and limiting factor for the functioning of the wood ants.

Accumulation of aluminum inHypogymnia physodes in the surroundings of a finnish sulphite-cellulose factory

Atomic absorption analyses were performed on an epiphytic lichenHypogymnia physodes growing at different distances from a sulphite-cellulose and paper plant in Mänttä, southern Finland. Lichen samples were taken from the bark of pine, birch and spruce. The mean Al-content of the lichen was 3-fold and 7.5-fold higher than those in other studies in southern and northern Finland. The accumulation of Al mainly orginated from the dust emission of the pulp and paper mill and its power plant which were the biggest single source of dust pollutants in Finland. Road dust and other local sources also increase Al-content of the lichens. Fe-concentrations ofHphysodes correlated with those of Al. Hg- and Cu-levels were also slightly elevated. Zn was at about the same and Cd at an even lower level than afore mentioned background values. With Zn, the contents were higher in lichens growing on birch than on coniferous trees.

The prevalence of asthma among inhabitants in the vicinity of a polyurethane factory in Finland.

Because toluene diisocyanate (TDI) is a strong sensitizer for asthma among workers in polyurethane factories, it is mostly extracted from the factory premises. The influence of such emissions on the prevalence of asthma among the people living in the vicinity of a polyurethane factory in Kouvola, Southern Finland, was studied through a questionnaire survey sent to 6807 persons living around the factory and in a control area; of these 4182 (61%) responded. In the study area near the factory there were 68 cases of asthma out of 3153 respondents (2.2%). In the control area there were 25 cases out of 1029 respondents (2.4%). The difference is insignificant (chi 2 = 0.27). Among the middle-aged the prevalence was significantly higher in the control area (chi 2 = 6.8). There was some indication of a lower asthma prevalence in the zone nearest to the factory, possibly due to its psychologically repellent effect on asthmatics, causing them to move away. Serum samples from 62 asthma patients out of 68 contacted (91%) were received and analyzed for TDI, HDI, and MDI. A positive result for the isocyanates was observed in only one patient who had been exposed in his occupation outside the factory. It was concluded that the polyurethane factory did not have a noticeable influence upon the prevalence of asthma in its surroundings.

Corynosoma strumosum (Rud.) and C. semerne (Forssell) (Acanthocephala) as Pathogenic Parasites of Farmed Minks in Finland

The acanthocephalan parasites of seals, Corynosoma strumosum (Rud.) and C. semerne (Forssell) were found in one mink farm in the south western archipelago of Finland, where the minks suffered from a bloody and often fatal diarrhoeal anaemia. C. strumosum was found in the two victims of the disease examined, whereas C. semerne occurred in 75·3 per cent of the surviving minks. In a highly anaemic group of minks the mean incidence of C. semerne was 2·9 specimens per animal, whereas the incidence was 1·5 in a mildly anaemic group. The epidemiology of the disease is discussed.