This article in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment discusses the contamination results from 30 years of mining and milling activities of the Priargunsky Mining-Chemical Production Company in Russia by analyzing the element composition of four beetle species. The concentrations of uranium and arsenic in beetles collected at the contaminated sites were found to be much higher than in beetles collected at the control site. There were fewer soil macroinvertebrates, and diversity was reduced at the contaminated sites The article provides strong evidence that the contamination caused by uranium production has severe negative biological effects on important groups of the soil food web.
