Modulation of the response to stress factors of Xerolycosa nemoralis (Lycosidae) spiders living in contaminated environments

The rapid development of industry has caused widespread pollution in the environment, which has a negative impact on living organisms. Spiders belong to the group of animals that can exist in these anthropogenically changed areas. This is probably due to the development of tolerance mechanisms in these organisms. The impact of long-term pollution on the development of the pre-adaptation to various stress factors in spiders is unknown. In this paper, we show that living in polluted areas affects the modulation of the response to other stress factors through changes in the Hsp70 level. We observed a positive reaction to heat shock in all of the experimental groups, which was expressed by an increase in Hsp70 synthesis compared to the control. The analysis of the protein level, which was a manifestation of the pre-adaptation, was dependent on the degree of pollution on the study sites, the sexes and the type of bioassay that was performed. Our results demonstrate the reaction of spiders living in contaminated areas to the presence of additional stressors. We anticipate our results will be another voice in the discussion on the use of Hsp70 as a stress biomarker in environmental biomonitoring. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.