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Russian scientists to study the influence of eroding rocks on living organisms

According to a scientist, the study of Tomsk Polytechnic University is unique for three reasons

September 25. /TASS/. Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) and the Far Eastern Branch of Russia's Academy of Sciences will study the effect of chemical elements eroding from rocks on living organisms for five years, TPU press service told journalists on Friday. This study, covering the ecosystems of Primorye, Gorny Altai and Transbaikalia, is unique in its scale and complexity of the approach.

"The relevance of such studies is in obtaining new information about the peculiarities of the migration of chemical elements from the most common types of bedrock in the zone of their weathering into natural waters, soils, soil microorganisms, food species of vegetation, as well as inside the mammalian body. Our task is to identify the mechanisms, how the mammalian organism adapts to changing environment ", the press service quoted the head of the scientific group, professor of the department of geology of TPU Natalia Baranovskaya as saying.

Baranovskaya noted that the result of the research will be the establishment of levels of accumulation of a wide range of chemical elements in the body of herbivorous and omnivorous mammals. “Now the world is beginning to understand the importance of research on regulation of not just organic components inside the body, but organometallic complexes, since these important components to a greater extent determine the life of a living organism,” she believes. "Solving this fundamental quastion will help in prevention of human and animal diseases. It is also important from the point of view of interdisciplinary research: geology, biology and ecology. "

According to the scientist, the study of Tomsk Polytechnic University is unique for three reasons at the same time: the complexity of the approach, the scale of the study of materials and the territory of the study. “At the moment, there is no such work in Russia,” Baranovskaya pointed out to TASS. “We are studying the trophic [food — TASS] system of three different regions in a complex: from rocks, soil, water and ending with plant organisms and mammals. Most of the existing research is narrowly focused. "

The research project, supported by a presidential grant, kicked off in 2020 and will take four years. Experts will study the ecosystems of Primorye, the Altai Republic and Transbaikalia. Scientists from the Pacific Institute of Geography will be engaged in the geological part of the research, scientists from the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute — biomedical, which includes the analysis of organisms. “In order to study chemical elements we use modern high-precision methods of analysis: instrumental neutron activation analysis using a TPU nuclear reactor, mass spectrometric analysis with inductively coupled plasma, electron microscopy and many others,” Baranovskaya noted. “The spectrum of the elements we studied is practically equal to Mendeleev's periodic table — more than 60 elements ".