I believe mussels are now (2025) protecting more cities.
What is cool about Warsaw is the TAWARA-RTM (TAp WAter RAdioactivity Real Time Monitor.
"Warsaw as the first city in the world is protected by a comprehensive system that is capable to monitor in real-time radioactivity of municipal water and by an innovative spectroscopy system capable to identify any detected contaminants"
I recently learned about a similar use of animals for assisting humans:
In about 1915, he tried a more natural approach to control the street lighting in Brightwater – chicken power. They didn't have time switches in those days, so he connected a switch to the perches in his chicken house. When the chickens started to roost at night the weight would turn the lighting on and in the morning when they got down off their perches, the spring switch would turn the generator and lighting off.
It's quite a creative approach. I have a question about it, though, as the person whose expertise is far from biology: how much time does it take for the species to adapt / evolve under the new reality?
For example, the city I live in has access to the sea. Which means that there are plenty of seagulls and another type of bird that looks similar but has a slightly larger size (not sure about its name). However, I can observe that many of them are searching for food not in the sea, but rather in the trash bins quite far from the sea, in front of McDonald's and other fast food places, where they can steal the food from the hand of the person leaving the building.
This gives me a hint that their behavior changed quite a lot due to the new conditions they live in. Is the same possible with the mussels that the "mussels are well known for clamping their shells shut when water quality is poor" fact might change within a short time? Or does it take generations to evolve like that?
You seem to be conflating evolution with learning. Seagulls didn't evolve to steal from trashcans, they learned to.
As for the main point of your question: the clams are replaced every so often, so they won't end up getting used to the city water and stop serving as a marker.
A weird approach to bioaccumulation which gets worse the higher in trophic level you go. Things like clams and sardines have the lowest levels of mercury etc. Swordfish and big tuna the worst.
What is cool about Warsaw is the TAWARA-RTM (TAp WAter RAdioactivity Real Time Monitor.
"Warsaw as the first city in the world is protected by a comprehensive system that is capable to monitor in real-time radioactivity of municipal water and by an innovative spectroscopy system capable to identify any detected contaminants"
https://www.ncbj.gov.pl/en/aktualnosci/state-art-system-moni...
reply