New Aspects of the Role of Organisms and Detritus in the Detoxification System of the Biosphere; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322861119 ; Russian Journal of General Chemistry, Ostroumov S.A.

Abstract

Article:
Ostroumov S.A., New Aspects of the Role of Organisms and Detritus
in the Detoxification System of the Biosphere.
Russian Journal of General Chemistry, 2017, Vol. 87, No. 13, pp. 3190–3198.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322861119 ;
© Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2017. ISSN 1070-3632,

Original Russian Text © S.A. Ostroumov, 2017, published in Ekologicheskaya Khimiya, 2017, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 165–174.

New Aspects of the Role of Organisms and Detritus

in the Detoxification System of the Biosphere;

S. A. Ostroumov;

Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia;

Received September 25, 2016;

Abstract—

This article presents the recent author's discovery of new aspects of the participation of organisms in the detoxification system of the

biosphere. Problems of detoxification of toxic environmental pollutants are analyzed. New author’s

experimental data in combination with a large amount of information in the scientific literature gave rise to a

new concept of the role of biogenic detritus and related nutrients in environmental detoxification (ex-living

matter concept). This may be useful for the development of new technologies for remediation and

decontamination of the environment.

Keywords: biosphere, detoxification, pollution control, toxic chemical elements, immobilization, sorption,

biogenic detritus, ex-living matter;

INTRODUCTION.

Study of the problem of detoxification of harmful

substances in the biosphere is closely related to several

areas of environmental chemistry. Many authors studied

problems of migration and cycling of chemical elements

in the biosphere [1–3], elemental composition of

environmental objects [2–22] and other aspects of

biosphere chemistry [18–49], and the role of organisms

in the formation of certain chemical parameters of the

habitat [5–7, 15–17, 50–79]. Studies of the chemical–

biotic interactions [11, 12, 14–22, 25–47, 55, 67, 72–

75, 78–80] and accumulation of a large amount of

information on the geochemical environment (see, e.g.,

[14–17, 21, 23, 47, 55, 73, 75, 80]) have revealed some

unresolved issues, which leads to the need to reexamine

the question of how organisms are involved in

the transformation and detoxification of habitats.

It is interesting to analyze how toxic chemical

elements are neutralized in the biosphere during

natural ecological and biogeochemical processes. New

important relevant data are actively accumulating in

experimental studies conducted in the laboratory of

biogeochemistry of the environment of the Vernadsky

Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of

the Russian Academy of Sciences [15, 16], as well as

in many laboratories of the world [81, 82].

V.I. Vernadsky emphasized the importance of

studying migration of chemical elements in the

biosphere and relations between the activity of living

matter and the physicochemical characteristics of the

biosphere [5–7, 74], as well as the importance of

various ways of the influence of living matter on the

environment. Data on the chemistry of the biosphere

[3, 4, 15–17], geochemical environment, and factors

affecting the concentrations of chemical chemical

elements [3, 4, 15–22, 25–47, 55, 67, 72–74], migration

of elements and biogeochemical flows in the biosphere

[67, 22, 28, 30], and self-purification of the environment

from chemical pollutants [28, 63–69] rapidly accumulate.

The new data require additional analysis, so that it is

necessary to formulate appropriate generalizations.

The objective of this analysis is to consider the role

of organisms and substances derived therefrom

(biogenic detritus and other detritus-like substances) in

the detoxification system of the biosphere with account

taken of our data.

It is necessary to distinguish two aspects of the

problem under study:

(1) The role of living organisms during their vital

activity;

(2) The role of biogenic detritus and related

substances of biological origin which were referred to

...

DOI: 10.1134/S1070363217130138;