Assessment of microelement ecotoxicity in fen for ecological state monitoring

Abstract

Wetlands, including bogs, fens, and swamps, play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance by absorbing pollutants. They also conserve biodiversity and serve as breeding and migration sites for living organisms whose treated by pollutants entering to the wetland ecosystems. Pollutants entering wetland ecosystems can have detrimental effects on these important functions. The article introduces the method of toxicity assessment of microelements used in the environmental condition monitoring of the Ob River’s floodplain fen (Tomsk Oblast, Russia). The impact of freshwater species (PAF m3day/kgemitted) is evaluated by calculating the Life Cycle Assessment Impact score for Be, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Sr, Mo, Pb, Cd, Sb, Ba, and Tl at distances of 40, 100, and 160 m from the wastewater discharge site. The study considers the elemental composition and total volume of water from various areas within the research site for assessing freshwater ecotoxicity. 12 out of 15 investigated trace elements have the greatest impact on the freshwater system in the zone of 160 m from the site of anthropogenic impact on the water body. The sampling areas can be ranked based on their ΣIS value, with IS160 = 1.3E+11, followed by IS100 = 7.5E+10, and IS40 = 1.5E+10 [PAF m3day/kgemitted].