PAWEŁ MIGULA, TOMASZ SAWCZYN ( authors of photographs)
MARIA AUGUSTYNIAK, PAWEŁ MIGULA (project manager)

University of Silesia,
Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, Department of Animal Physiology and Ecotoxicology;
Bankowa 9, 40-007 Katowice
e-mail: maria.augustyniak@us.edu.pl

Description popularizing the research project

Beautiful and wise - such a combination in case of women may be uncomfortable or even deadly. Beautiful and reliable are luxurious cars, yachts and Swiss watches. But beautiful and useful is what scientists like the best although they never expect it. A researcher does not have to be a beauty lover and his expectations are simple: a laboratory should be functional, its equipment - modern, shoes - comfortable, and the research subject - cheap, available, fertile and representative for the analyzed issue. It may be small, gray, ugly or even disgusting, but it should not be protected and must give a Nobel Prize or at least a publication in 'Nature'. Moreover it should be easy to catch and transport to the lab. Then it should eat whatever is served and immediately start breeding. Classical beauty is not mentioned even at the bottom of the ranking. Usually it is so that beauty and usefulness exclude each other. Spiders are useful. Bees, ants, scavenger beetles, earthworms, toads and cattle are useful as well. From the scientific point of view there are a lot of useful insect species including even the notorious Orthoptera. They do meet all the requirements of scientists and can be found in most environments, from Silesia (Poland) to Mpumalanga (RSA). Both in Silesia and in Africa the researches on Orthoptera provide us with valuable information on functioning insects in environments polluted with metals and other toxic substances. Grasshoppers are perfectly adapted to living in harsh conditions of stress. They not only do not avoid it, but even increase it by eating plants full of nickel. There are not many creatures that can stand it. But the grasshoppers know how to protect their basic life functions, brain and gonads and they do not waste too much energy on that. The energy they need for reproduction which goes on undisturbed even in the laboratory. Many scientists ask the question 'How do they do it?' often envying them the energy and beauty.

Abstract

The ecotoxicological studies using various species of Orthoptera have been conducted in Department of Animal Physiology and Ecotoxicology since 90's of the last century. In many projects we were focused on grasshoppers adapted to antropogenically changed ecosystems, mainly by metallurgy and mining. Moreover, investigations on insects from not polluted regions of Poland were the other component of those projects. Also researches, coordinated by prof. Pawel Migula - Poland and dr Jolanta Mesjasz-Przybyłowicz - SA, conducted in Africa were very helpful in understanding mechanisms of adaptations to metal pollution in Orthoptera species.
So far we know that a lot of orthopteran species have adapted to extremely high levels of metals in their habitats. Some populations chronically exposed to metals have developed energy-saving mechanisms. For example, they can only slightly increase the activity of detoxifying enzymes after application of toxic agents. Also they do not over synthesize the protective peptides and proteins (e.g. glutathione, heat shock proteins). Moreover, the level of DNA damage in cells isolated from brain ganglions of the grasshoppers from polluted areas is usually lower than in insects from other regions of Poland.
The main object of international projects was the South African grasshopper Stenoscepa sp. feeding on nickel hyperaccumulating plants. One of such plant is Berkheya coddii - an endemic species growing on ultramafic soils in Mpumalanga province (RSA). This plant is extremely toxic to other animals. In case of Stenoscepa sp. the tolerance of high level of nickel in Berkheya coddii was developed naturally (as a coevolution of the plant and the grasshopper). The knowledge of physiology of the insects living on natural hyperaccumulator plants is useful. It gives a basis to understanding the processes occurring in insects from polluted areas, where high levels of metals are the consequence of human activity. Stenoscepa sp. may let us forecast the direction of evolution of the insects from industrially polluted areas in Poland.