Issues in biomonitoring data interpretation and their mitigation
Institute of Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Opole, ul. kard. B. Kominka 6, 6a, 45-032 Opole, Poland
Living organisms or materials derived from them are used for environmental pollution assessment. Among advantages accumulation of pollutants in the organic matrix is noticed. As a result higher concentrations of an analyte in an organic matrix than in medium are observed. For the analyte concentration lower than a detection limit in the medium, an increased concentration in the matrix makes possible determination of its concentration. The analyte permeates into the matrix according to relevant mechanisms. In laboratory the analyte concentration in the organic matrix is determined, and the results can be used for the medium quality assessment. A number of issues related to application of biosorbents for environmental pollution estimation occur. Among them the following are mentioned: different properties of the organic matrices, limited control on the organic matrix composition, differentiated conditions for the analyte permeation into the organic matrix. The mentioned factors substantially hinder comparison of the measurement results, introducing disturbances to the results of the data interpretation. In some extent influence of cumbersome effects can be reduced. An approach to the data analysis based on concentration ratios is presented and discussed. Components concentrations in a sub‑composition can be used for comparison of the measurement results from different organic matrices. Results of the presented methods’ application for the data analysis are presented. The analysed data come from a survey on seasonal changes in water quality in dam reservoir. In the study for biosorbents alga, moss and lichen were used. Financial support for this work was provided by the National Centre for Research and Development, programme BIOSTRATEG (ZBIORTUR, project 3/343733/15/NCBR/2018).
Keywords: Component’s concentration, accumulation, issues in data interpretation, issues mitigation, concentrations’ ratio
