Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, 44 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Environ Pollut. 2011 Feb;159(2):596-601. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2010.10.005. Epub 2010 Oct 30.
The wet landscape approach to oil sands tailings reclamation in the Athabasca Oil Sands region involves creating wetlands from fluid tailings in mined-out pits. We measured time to metamorphosis, thyroid hormone status, and detoxification enzyme (EROD) induction in Wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) tadpoles raised on reclaimed oil sands wetlands of different ages [young (≤ 7 yr) vs. old (> 7 yr)] and compared data with tadpoles raised on reference (control) wetlands. Metamorphosis was delayed or never occurred in tadpoles raised in young tailings; those exposed to older tailings developed similarly to those in reference wetlands. Thyroid hormone disruption likely played an important role in the metamorphosis delay as the T3:T4 ratio was lowest in tadpoles raised in young, tailings-affected wetlands. Our findings suggest tailings wetlands become less toxic with age, and that these amphibians will be able to complete their life cycle in tailing wetlands that have sufficiently detoxified with age.
在阿萨巴斯卡油砂地区，采用湿地方法对油砂尾矿进行复垦，即在采空的矿坑中利用流动尾矿来建造湿地。我们测量了在不同年龄的复垦油砂湿地（年轻的[≤7 年]和年老的[>7 年]）上生长的林蛙（Lithobates sylvaticus）蝌蚪的变态时间、甲状腺激素状态和解毒酶（EROD）诱导情况，并将数据与在参照湿地（对照）上生长的蝌蚪进行了比较。在年轻的尾矿中生长的蝌蚪会出现变态延迟或根本不发生变态；而那些暴露在年老的尾矿中的蝌蚪的发育情况与参照湿地中的蝌蚪相似。甲状腺激素紊乱可能在变态延迟中起重要作用，因为在年轻的受尾矿影响的湿地中生长的蝌蚪的 T3:T4 比值最低。我们的研究结果表明，随着时间的推移，尾矿湿地的毒性会降低，并且这些两栖动物将能够在经过足够时间解毒的尾矿湿地中完成其生命周期。
