Spider webs as indicators of cobalt and lead pollution in Kano Municipality

Abstract

Spider webs were collected from the indoor and outdoor of 120 sampling sites of 10 zones of Kano Municipality. The samples were analysed for cobalt and lead by the use of ALPHA-4 model of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The analysis of the webs showed different levels of the metals in the indoor and outdoor samples with means and standard deviations of 19.68±12.00 and 27.09±13.71μg/g for cobalt indoor and outdoor respectively and 503.34±139.60μg/g and 662.50±145.22μg/g for lead indoor and outdoor respectively. These variations in concentrations have been attributed to emissions from dust particles, motor vehicle/industrial emissions and other activities in the metropolis. Analysis of the webs also showed large differences between the sites which could be attributed to the geology and activities in each locality. Spider webs analysis has thus proved a useful indicator and accumulator of the pollutants of the environment from which they were collected.

Keywords: spider, indicator, cobalt, lead, pollution, Kano