Mammals as biological monitors of environmental metal levels.

Wild mammals can be valuable biological monitors of environmental gradients of metal concentrations. The choice of a particular species for a biological monitor must be based upon the circumstances of each study including species availability, the metals to be examined, area, and the study objectives and priorities. Ideally, a biological monitoring study should be designed to obtain and make use of the optimum amount of available information by complementing existing environmental studies, or through the simultaneous collection of other environmental data.