Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE), Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE), Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Environ Pollut. 2019 Oct;253:199-206. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.06.123. Epub 2019 Jul 1.
There is a growing conservation concern about the possible consequences of environmental contamination in the health of bat communities. Most studies on the effects of contaminants in bats have been focused on organic contaminants, and the consequences of bat exposure to metals and metalloids remain largely unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the suitability of external biological matrices (fur and wing membrane) for the assessment of exposure and bioaccumulation of metals in bats. The concentration of arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, lead, selenium and zinc was measured in internal organs (liver, heart, brain), internal (bone) and external tissues (wing membrane, fur) collected from bat carcasses of four species (Hypsugo savii, Nyctalus leisleri, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Pipistrellus pygmaeus) obtained in windfarm mortality searches. With the exception of zinc (P = 0.223), the results showed significant differences between the concentrations of metals in the analyzed tissues for all metals (P < 0.05). Significant differences were also found between organs/tissues (P < 0.001), metals (P < 0.001) and a significant interaction between organs/tissues and metals was found (P < 0.001). Despite these results, the patterns in terms of metal accumulation were similar for all samples. Depending on the metal, the organ/tissue that showed the highest concentrations varied, but fur and wing had the highest concentrations for most metals. The variability obtained in terms of metal concentrations in different tissues highlights the need to define standardized methods capable of being applied in monitoring bat populations worldwide. The results indicate that wing membrane and fur, biological matrices that may be collected from living bats, yield reliable results and may be useful for studies on bats ecotoxicology, coupled to a standardized protocol for large-scale investigation of metal accumulation.
人们越来越关注环境污染物对蝙蝠群体健康可能造成的影响，这引起了人们对环境保护的关注。大多数关于污染物对蝙蝠影响的研究都集中在有机污染物上，而蝙蝠暴露于金属和类金属的后果在很大程度上仍不清楚。本研究旨在评估外部生物基质（皮毛和翅膀膜）是否适合评估蝙蝠暴露于金属和金属积累的情况。从风力发电场死亡搜索中获得的四种蝙蝠（大足鼠耳蝠、中蹄蝠、普通伏翼、小蝙蝠）的尸体中采集了内部器官（肝脏、心脏、大脑）、内部（骨骼）和外部组织（翅膀膜、皮毛），并测量了砷、镉、钴、铬、铜、锰、镍、铅、硒和锌的浓度。除锌（P=0.223）外，所有金属（P<0.05）在分析组织中的浓度均存在显著差异。器官/组织（P<0.001）、金属（P<0.001）之间也存在显著差异，并且还发现器官/组织与金属之间存在显著的相互作用（P<0.001）。尽管存在这些差异，但所有样本的金属积累模式相似。根据金属的不同，显示最高浓度的器官/组织也不同，但皮毛和翅膀对大多数金属的浓度最高。不同组织中金属浓度的可变性突出表明需要定义标准化方法，以便能够在全球范围内监测蝙蝠种群。研究结果表明，翅膀膜和皮毛是可能从活体蝙蝠身上采集的生物基质，能够提供可靠的结果，并且可能对蝙蝠生态毒理学研究有用，结合标准化的大规模金属积累调查协议。
