ORIGINAL RESEARCH
A Comparison of Various Ecological Indexes
for Environmental Assessment of Vulnerable
Mountain Ecosystems
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1
Department of Environmental Engineering, Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
2
Department of Biology, Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
Submission date: 2019-03-29
Final revision date: 2019-05-29
Acceptance date: 2019-05-29
Online publication date: 2020-03-03
Publication date: 2020-04-21
Corresponding author
Nurzat Totubaeva
Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, Chyngyz Aitmatov avenue, 720000, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(4):2879-2887
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ABSTRACT
The aim of this work was to compare various ecological indexes to assess the state of urbanized
ecosystems of the Issyk-Kul region in the Kyrgyz Republic. Soil samples were analyzed for Pb, Zn, Fe,
Cu and Cd using AAS. Heavy metal contamination status was assessed using indexes for enrichment
factor, geo accumulation, contamination factor, degree of contamination, pollution load, potential
ecological risk and integrated risk using the Triad approach. Results show marked variations of heavy
metal concentrations within the study area. The concentrations of heavy metals in soils of Issyk-Kul had
the following increasing order: Zn> Pb> Cu> Cd. Indexes such as enrichment factor and contamination
factor showed the Issyk-Kul soils to be moderately polluted with Pb, Zn and Cd; geoacumulation
revealed extreme contamination with Pb, Zn and Cu. Potential ecological risk estimated low risk,
while the Triad approach characterized soil as highly contaminated. The Triad approach shows that
using biotic components in evaluating the contamination degrees is informative. The results of this
study show that adequate measures should be put to checkmate and regulate human activities around
Issyk-Kul Lake in order to protect soil from further deterioration and contamination.