Department of Ecology, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, Debrecen, H-4032, Hungary.
MTA-DE Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Research Group, Egyetem tér 1, Debrecen, H-4032, Hungary.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2019 Nov;26(31):32092-32102. doi: 10.1007/s11356-019-06294-5. Epub 2019 Sep 7.
Survival of organisms in polluted habitats is a key factor regarding their long-term population persistence. To avoid harmful physiological effects of pollutants' accumulation in organisms, decontamination and excretion could be effective mechanisms. Among invertebrates, ground beetles are reliable indicators of environmental pollution. Published results, however, are inconsistent, as some studies showed effective decontamination and excretion of pollutants, while others demonstrated severe toxic symptoms due to extreme accumulation. Using ground beetles as model organisms, we tested our pollution intensity-dependent disposal hypothesis for five pollutants (Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn) among four soil pollution intensity levels (low, moderate, high, and extreme) by categorical meta-analysis on published data. According to our hypothesis, decontamination and excretion of pollutants in ground beetles are effective in lowly or moderately polluted habitats, while disposal is ineffective in highly or extremely polluted ones, contributing to intense accumulation of pollutants in ground beetles. In accordance with the hypothesis, we found that in an extremely polluted habitat, accumulation of Cd and Pb in ground beetles was significantly higher than in lowly polluted ones. These findings may suggest the entomoremediation potential of ground beetles in an extremely polluted environment.
生物在污染环境中的生存能力是其长期种群持续存在的关键因素。为了避免污染物在生物体内积累造成有害的生理影响，脱污和排泄可能是有效的机制。在无脊椎动物中，步甲科甲虫是环境污染的可靠指标。然而，已发表的结果并不一致，因为一些研究表明它们能有效地脱污和排泄污染物，而另一些研究则表明由于极度积累，它们表现出严重的毒性症状。我们使用步甲科甲虫作为模式生物，通过对已发表数据的分类荟萃分析，在低、中、高和极高四个土壤污染水平（低、中、高和极高）下，针对五种污染物（Cd、Cu、Mn、Pb 和 Zn），检验了我们的污染强度依赖性处理假说。根据我们的假说，在低度或中度污染的栖息地中，步甲科甲虫体内的污染物脱污和排泄是有效的，而在高度或极度污染的栖息地中则无效，这导致污染物在步甲科甲虫体内的强烈积累。与假说一致，我们发现，在极度污染的栖息地中，步甲科甲虫体内 Cd 和 Pb 的积累明显高于低度污染的栖息地。这些发现可能表明，在极度污染的环境中，步甲科甲虫具有生物修复潜力。
