Том 68, № 10 (2023)

The article considers the increasing of anthropogenic loads on surface waters. An analysis of the works of V.I. Vernadsky about natural waters and their importance in assessing modern biogeochemical processes. The scales of the input of elements and substances into the modern biosphere, such as the emission of greenhouse gases, the dispersion of nitrogen and phosphorus, acid-forming gases, as well as metals, are shown. Key changes covering regions and the biosphere as a whole are noted. Examples of the consequences of the development of anthropogenically induced processes in surface waters are given on the example of Arctic remote regions - the Kola North of Russia: the impact of climate warming, acidification, eutrophication and enrichment of waters with metals. Within the concept of V.I. Vernadsky about the role of natural waters in the life support of Planet population, approaches to assessing the quality of waters from the standpoint of the ecological paradigm are given.

The territory of modern central Donbass is considered as an experimental site for the implementation of an ingredient biomonitoring program. Bryophytes were transplanted and exposed in the geolocalities of the direct impact of enterprises of coal mining and processing complexes, metallurgical and chemical industries, ruderal and residential ecotopes. For bryobionts with a wide amplitude of resistance to technogenic pollution (Amblystegium subtile (Hedw.) Schimp., Brachythecium campestre (Müll.Hal.) Bruch et al., Bryum argenteum Hedw., Bryum caespiticium Hedw., Bryum capillare Hedw., Ceratodon purpureus (Hedw.) Brid and Pylaisia polyantha (Hedw.) Schimp.) the following criteria of anthropotolerance were selected: 1) elements accumulation function, 2) the ability to accumulate specific pollutants, 3) structural and functional reactions and manifestation of atypical morphogenesis (teratogenesis) of plant organisms and 4) shifts in the characteristics of the survival strategy of species in the conditions of deep transformation of the landscape systems of Donbass. Specificity of accumulation of Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Rb, Sr, Zr, Mo, Cd, Sb, I, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Yb, Hf, Ta, W, Hg, Pb, Th, U in samples of indicator plants used as seasonal phytotest monitors to assess pollution of natural environments have been defined. With a radical violation of geochemical cycles in plant life support systems, cases of specific chlorosis and necrosis of point localization, hypo- and hypergenesis and deformation, as well as fasciation, prolification, dystopia, oligomerization of vegetative organs, features of the development of individual groups of cells in the integumentary and conformational tissues of the leaf apparatus of bryobionts have been recorded. The revealed abnormalities are used as a phyto-indication characteristic when conducting an express analysis of the level of technogenic stress in field diagnostics. The coefficients of biological absorption and technogenic concentration of elements in biosubstrates were calculated when assessing the geochemical contrast of the environment. The difference in the accumulative capacity of bryobionts for individual elements or their associative groups in various ectopes is defined. The related morphogenetic heterogeneity of the structure and elemental composition of plants is an individual case of compliance with V.I. Vernadsky's ideas of the concentration, information and environment-forming functions of living matter.

The participation of small mammals (SM) in the migration of essential (Cu, Zn) and toxic (Cd, Pb) trace elements (TEs) in forest ecosystems under conditions of severe industrial pollution of the environment (1990–2000) by a large copper smelter (Middle Urals, Russia) and after a significant reduction in its emissions (2010–2019) was considered. The peculiarity of transit food flows (TFF) in the pollution gradient was determined by the composition and abundance of animals of different trophic groups (phytophages, mixophages, zoophages), as well as the specifics of their diet. The reduction in emissions was accompanied by positive changes in the SM communities, expressed in an increase in the number and structural rearrangements of trophic groups (TG), which led to partial changes in the composition and amount of food consumed, as well as the content of TEs in them. By the end of the observation period in the background zone, the animal-controlled TFF remained stable for most TEs (Cu, Zn, Cd), for Pb it decreased by a factor of 2, but not as a result of reduced emissions. In contaminated areas, the value of TFF Zn has not changed, Cd has increased, Cu and Pb - decreased. It was concluded that in the taiga zone the main contribution to the dynamics of biogenic TEs flows over time and space was made by a group of mixophages that dominated the pollution gradient.

The article offers a justification for the biogeochemical approach used to analyze the interaction in the system "society-nature" under conditions of anthropogenic transformation of the biosphere, with public health as one of its key indicators. It describes the basic principles and tasks of multilevel medico-ecological monitoring, which allows moving forward from a qualitative population health assessment and investigation of the ecological situation towards the quantitative determination of the ecological health risks and regional standards for technogenic factors, assuming the modifications due to the biogeochemical conditions of the environment. The results of verification of the monitoring methods are presented at the regional (Republic of Crimea), subregional (Sevastopol, Simferopol), and local (individual cohorts of the urban population) levels.
The official statistics provided by the departments though being less efficient for the research at the regional level still allow identifying the territories with some significant inequalities in the environmental health risk. Sub-regional (within settlements) biomonitoring studies in Sevastopol and Simferopol revealed spatial heterogeneity and loci with higher content of some heavy metals and other chemical elements in the environment and biosubstrates (soil, plants). Cohort studies of residents where 29 chemical elements’ content was determined in human organism followed by the examination of the functional state of target systems in people from risk groups. Results of the correlation and regression analysis allowed us to estimate the physiological significance of given elements, as well as the effects of their complex influence at background exposure.
6. Keywords: biogeochemical basis of rationing, medical and ecological monitoring, trace elements, xenobiotics, public health, modeling