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DEPARTMENT OF BIOMONITORING
Head of Department
Ing. Julie Sucharová, Ph.D.
Deputy Head
Ing. Marie Holá
Staff
Sucharová Julie, ing., Ph.D.
Holá Marie, ing.
Houdová Radka
Jarošová Lenka
History of the Department
The Department of Biomonitoring of the Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening was established in 2000, when the expanding Laboratory of Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) operating within the Department of Landscape was separated off. The laboratory formed the basis of the new department, which was set up to extend the capacity for monitoring contamination of the environment, mainly by heavy metals, using chemical analyses of suitable bioindicators. The forerunner of our department had monitored contamination of plants and soil covers since the mid 1980s. However, the relatively small analytical capacity of the AAS laboratory (AAS Varian, AASpectr30A-(300A)) with GTA and the hydride generation method and one CEM appliance for microwave digestion of the samples) gradually became inadequate for the research projects, research orders and analyses of moss samples from the Czech Republic within the European moss monitoring programmes (link 2). With support from the EU PHARE programme, the AAS laboratory was able to acquire an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (OES ICP, Jobin Yvon 170 Ultrace) in1993-1994. This considerably accelerated the analyses of the samples, and a new room was set up for the instrumentation and support activities. The first inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS Perkin Elmer Elan 6000) was purchased in 1998. The inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (Jobin Yvon 170 Ultrace) was replaced by a new simultaneous optical emission spectrometer (ICP OES Perkin Elmer Optima 5300DV) in 2006.
Main activities
Since 2000 the department:
•has proposed, tested and validated suitable methods for bioindicating the quality of the environment
We select suitable bio-indicators, develop and introduce more effective and more correct methods for determining pollutants and for testing modified or new bio-indication procedures. (link 3).
•has determined the contamination levels of natural materials, mainly in forests in the Czech Republic
We determine the contamination loads of inorganic and organic pollutants in the surroundings of emission sources in industrial and agricultural regions of the Czech Republic. We map the pollution distribution uisng commented dot maps and isopleth maps. We determine modifications of the pollution level due to the operation of stand factors (e.g., relief, elevation, annual precipitation sums, land use, etc.) The most frequently used bioindicators are: forest mosses, forest floor humus, tree bark, plants and soil covers.
•has monitored the concentrations of selected chemical elements and organic pollutants in moss at permanent forest plots
We determine the element concentrations in moss in the Czech Republic at regular interals, within the framework of the international UNECE ICP-Vegetation biomonitoring programme (http://icpvegetation.ceh.ac.uk/), which emerged from the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). We have published Czech national reports on the results of the moss monitoring campaigns, and have provided the biomonitoring results obtained in the Czech Republic for an international database (2).
•has evaluated, commented on and published our biomonitoring results
We present the results in research literature, and through talks and posters presented at meetings of experts (http://www.vukoz.cz/index.php?p=zpravy_o_cinnosti&site=default+1).
Current technical equipment and room disposition of the Department of Biomonitoring
•Laboratory of Trace Elements
Optical emission spectrometer with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES Perkin Elmer, Optima 5300DV)
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS Perkin Elmer, ELAN 6000)
Dynamic reaction cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (DRC-ICP-MS Perkin Elmer, ELAN DRC II)
•Organic laboratory
ALPHA 2-4/LSC (Christ) freeze dryer for drying samples
ASE-300 accelerated solvent extraction system (Dionex)
Varian 210 ProStar HPLC solvent delivery module
Dionex SE-400 solvent evaporator system compatible with ASE-300 and a mass spectrometer
Varian 4000 MS/MS mass spectrometer with Varian 3800 gas chromatograph
•Laboratory for mercury determination
Single-purpose atomic absorption spectrometer (AMA 254, Altec) for mercury determination
Single-purpose atomic absorption spectrometer with a sensitive cuvette (AMA 254HC, Altec) for mercury determination
•Basic laboratory for physical and chemical measurements
Analyser of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur (TruSpec CN + TruSpec S, LECO)
System for microwave digestion of samples for trace analysis (Mars, CEM)
System for microwave digestion of samples for trace analysis (Star Plus system 2TM, CEM)
Kjeldahl distillation unit (Unit B-324, Büchi)
Muffle furnace and other basic technical equipment for chemical laboratories
Instruments for conductometric measurements and for potentiometric determination of pH
•Support equipment
Rooms for processing, drying and grinding collected samples (rotor, planet, disk or cryogenic mills).
Rooms for weighing, washing and drying laboratory glassware.
Registries of protocols for collecting samples, records of element determinations, operation protocols and a store of samples.
Basic software and hardware equipment for processing analytical results, statistical analysis and drawing maps.
Quality of our work and results
Validated procedures are respected when collecting and processing samples for element determination, and in all laboratory work. The quality of the laboratory work and the results is assured by keeping to all procedures introduced in accredited laboratories (QA/QC). Since 1996, checks on the determination of elements in the laboratory have been carried out through analyses of plant materials in the WEPAL international programme (Wageningen Evaluating Programme for Analytical Laboratories) arranged by the University of Wageningen (http://www.wepal.nl/).
Participation of the Department of Biomonitoring in major international projects
•1991 – present time: Monitoring the concentrations of chemical elements in moss
We determine element concentrations in moss in the Czech Republic in the framework of European bio-monitoring campaigns. The results are used for assessing the current atmospheric deposition loads at moss growth sites. After the Protocol on Heavy Metals (Aarhus, Denmark, 1998) was ratified, European moss monitoring activities began to be coordinated by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Bangor, U.K. (http://icpvegetation.ceh.ac.uk/). For the European moss monitoring programmes in 1991/1992, 1995/1996, 2000/2001 and 2005/2006 we determined the concentrations of about 13 obligatorily investigated elements and 24 optionally investigated elements in moss samples collected at 192 - 280 sites in the Czech Republic.
•2006 – 2008: Mapping the main sources of pollutants and their transport in the territory of the Visegrad countries
We implemented and coordinated project 11007-2006-IVF Mapping of main sources of pollutants and their transport in the space of the Visegrad countries, supported by the International Visegrad Fund. The concentration distribution of of 53 chemical elements in moss in the territories of Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic was mapped, and potential anthropogenic emission sources causing the depicted hot spots were commented on (8).
•2008 – 2011: Biogeochemical exploration of forests in the Czech Republic
We lead the project Biogeochemical exploration of forests as a base for the long-term landscape exploitation in the Czech Republic (CZ0074), which is supported by a grant from Norway through the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The project is implemented in collaboration with our partner, the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU). We study the distribution of at least 35 chemical elements in forest soil, humus, Schreber's Feathermoss, Wood Hair-grass and Norway Spruce needles at more than 250 forest stands in the Czech Republic.
Implementation of selected internal projects
Since 1990, we have led or been co-investigators of several important research projects and research orders.
•Research projects supported by domestic grant agencies
We have implemented more than 12 projects supported by domestic grant agencies. These projects have included work on determining salt concentrations along roads and salt damage to roadside woody species, determining the concentration of heavy metals in composts produced in public parks in Prague, determining the content of toxic metals in municipal sludges from sewage treatment plants, and evaluating the risk of the metals being transferred into plants grown in sludge-based substrates, injuries to young spruce plantings on “immission” clear cuttings in the Krkonoše Mts, and ways of protecting young spruces, determining 35 chemical elements in forest moss and humus in a 15-km radius around a secondary lead smelter in Příbram, detecting the accumulation levels of 13 elements in forest floor humus across the Czech Republic, etc.
•Tasks specified in the institutional research plans
Within the framework of the institutional research plans (Research Plan MŽPN0102 in 1999–2004, and Research Plan MZP0002707301 in 2005–2011), we have divided our work into five partial projects. Atmospheric deposition loads (bulks) have been determined near Klatovy, Příbram, Týniště nad Orlicí and in south Moravia (Hustopeče district). The effect of wind erosion of soil covers on element accumulation in forest humus and moss in south Moravia has been evaluated. Methods for determining As, Se and Si in plant bio-indicators using the ICP-MS technique have been validated. Mercury contamination levels in forest humus, moss and oak bark have been determined in the surroundings of a chlor-alkali plant (Spolana, Neratovice) after a flood in 2002, and others.
•Research orders
We have worked on six major research orders at the department. Research projects have been ordered by the Highways Directorate in Prague and in Bratislava (Slovakia), by the Hydrometeorological institute in Prague, by the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant, and by the Czech Ministry of the Environment. We have investigated the contamination of soil and crops along the D1 highway between Prague and Brno. We have monitored the increasing contamination of soil and plants by metals since the opening of a new highway segment (highway D61 near Horná Streda, Slovakia). We have designed a system for monitoring radionuclide activities around a nuclear power plant using bioindicators (tree bark, forest floor humus, fruiting bodies of mushrooms, bilberry fruits). This system has been maintained by the Faculty of Nuclear Science and Physical Engineering, Technical University in Prague. We have mapped the accumulation levels of risk elements in moss and humus in an area heavily affected by industrial emissions (the former so-called Black Triangle” area in NW Bohemia). We have published the results of moss and humus monitoring in a national survey 2005, with a commentary, etc.
Project results
A list of the projects and orders implemented by the department is available here.
The research results obtained in the projects and accepted by the Research and Development Council, a governmental advisory body, have been accessible since 2002 through the public Research and Development Information System (RIV) by project, by institute and by project participant (http://www.vyzkum.cz/FrontClanek.aspx?idsekce=1028).
International cooperation and contacts
We have participated in international biomonitoring campaigns and have cooperated with the coordination centre of the UN ECE ICP-Vegetation programme and with some national institutes included in the moss-monitoring campaigns. Our research workers have collaborated with representatives of the Geological Survey of Norway, our partner in a joint international project (CZ0074) supported by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. In international project 11007-2006-IVF, supported by the International Visegrad Fund, we collaborated closely with our project partners at the Institute of Botany in Kraków, Poland, at the Institute of Landscape Ecology in Bratislava, Slovakia, at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, and at the Department of the Environment and Agriculture of Czent Isztván University in Gödöllő, Hungary.
Users of our results
Our project results have been utilised, for example, by the Highways Directorate in Prague and in Bratislava (contamination levels of soil and crops along highways), by the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant (we designed the biomonitoring system around the power plant), by the Endocrinological Institute in Prague (data and maps of the distribution of risk elements in the Příbram and Nová Bystřice regions), by the Health Institute in Brno (data and maps of the distribution of toxic elements in moss and soil in southern Moravia, in the form of a book), by the National Radiation Protection Institute (SÚRO) in Prague (measurements of specific radionuclide activities in tree bark and humus samples).
The concentrations of the investigated elements in moss in the Czech Republic obtained in the moss-monitoring campaigns 1991-2005 have been utilised by the cooperative centre of the project, and by some institutes included in the international monitoring programme (http://icpvegetation.ceh.ac.uk/).
Publications by department members
Publications by members of the department have been listed in the Annual Reports of the institute (VÚKOZ) since 2000 (http://www.vukoz.cz/index.php?p=zpravy_o_cinnosti&site=default), and in some cases on the personal www pages of staff members.
The list of research reports presented by members of the Department of Biomonitoring is available too. |
