Burger J, Murray S, Gaines K F, Novak J M, Punshon T, Dixon C, Gochfeld M
Division of Life Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA.
Environ Monit Assess. 2006 Jan;112(1-3):35-52. doi: 10.1007/s10661-006-0695-3.
Levels of 18 elements, including lead, mercury, selenium, and uranium, were examined in three species of snakes from an exposed and reference site on the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina. We tested the hypotheses that there were no differences as a function of species, and there were no difference between the exposed and control site for blood and muscle (tail) samples for banded water snake (Nerodia fasciata), brown water snake (N. taxispilota) and cotton mouth (Akistrodon piscivorous). The banded water snakes collected were significantly smaller than the other two species. For blood, there were significant species differences only for barium, copper, selenium, uranium and zinc, while for muscle tissue there were significant interspecific differences in aluminum, arsenic, barium, cobalt, cesium, copper, iron, lead, mercury, manganese, strontium, vanadium and zinc, suggesting that muscle tissue in the tail is a better indicator of potential interspecific differences. It is also easier logistically to collect tail tissue than blood. Where one species had significantly higher levels than the other species in muscle tissue levels, cottonmouth had higher levels of five elements (aluminum, cobalt, lead, mercury, vanadium), brown water snake had two (lead, strontium), and banded water snake had only barium. There were few significant differences between the control and reference site for levels of blood, but several for muscle tissue. All three species had significantly higher levels of arsenic and manganese at Tim's Branch than the reference site, and nickel and uranium were significantly higher for banded water snake and cotton mouth, the larger species. Individuals with high exposure of one element were exposed to high levels of other elements.
在南卡罗来纳州能源部萨凡纳河工厂的一个暴露场地和一个对照场地，对三种蛇体内的18种元素（包括铅、汞、硒和铀）含量进行了检测。我们检验了以下假设：对于带状水蛇（Nerodia fasciata）、棕水蛇（N. taxispilota）和棉口蛇（Akistrodon piscivorous），元素含量不存在因物种不同而产生的差异，且血液和肌肉（尾部）样本在暴露场地和对照场地之间也不存在差异。所采集的带状水蛇明显比其他两个物种小。对于血液，仅钡、铜、硒、铀和锌存在显著的物种差异；而对于肌肉组织，铝、砷、钡、钴、铯、铜、铁、铅、汞、锰、锶、钒和锌存在显著的种间差异，这表明尾部的肌肉组织是种间潜在差异的更好指标。从后勤角度来看，采集尾部组织也比采集血液更容易。在肌肉组织含量方面，当一个物种的含量显著高于其他物种时，棉口蛇有五种元素（铝、钴、铅、汞、钒）含量较高，棕水蛇有两种（铅、锶），带状水蛇只有钡含量较高。血液含量在对照场地和参考场地之间几乎没有显著差异，但肌肉组织存在一些差异。在蒂姆溪，所有三个物种的砷和锰含量均显著高于参考场地，带状水蛇和棉口蛇（较大的物种）的镍和铀含量显著更高。一种元素暴露水平高的个体，其他元素的暴露水平也高。
