Department of Biology and Medical Parasitology, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Powstancow Wielkopolskich 72, 70-111 Szczecin, Poland.
Department of Biology and Medical Parasitology, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Powstancow Wielkopolskich 72, 70-111 Szczecin, Poland.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 25;775:145808. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145808. Epub 2021 Feb 12.
The long-term anthropogenic release of mercury (Hg) into the environment has led to contamination of the biosphere, with all forms of Hg showing toxic effects and the ability to accumulate in organisms. Since the 1970s, efforts have been made in Western Europe to reduce Hg emissions and for the economic use of Hg, leading to a reduction in Hg exposure to humans and entire ecosystems. The purpose of this research was to present the total mercury (THg) burden in three mustelids (the piscivorous Eurasian otter and American mink, and the invertebrativorous European badger) inhabiting north-western Poland (mostly floodplains) and other European countries (literature data). Moreover, we wanted to investigate whether reductions in the environmental Hg burden in Europe have resulted in reductions in liver and kidney levels in wild terrestrial mammals (Eurasian otter, wild boar, red deer, roe deer, cervids, leporids, rodents, and ecotrophic groups: piscivorous mustelids, non-mustelids whose diets include aquatic prey, canids and other carnivores, omnivores, herbivores), between samples collected before and after 2000. We revealed significantly higher nephric THg levels in roadkilled than in trapped American minks. As roadkilled piscivorous mustelids from the same floodplain had similar hepatic and nephric THg concentrations, we suggest that the European research on Hg ecotoxicology should more often use alien American mink instead of the protected Eurasian otter. Badgers inhabiting Polish and other European floodplains bioaccumulated higher amounts of THg than those from other areas, and as such, may be recommended as bioindicator of mercury soil contamination. Our analysis of abundant data on mammalian hepatic and nephric THg concentrations (excluding non-piscivores mustelids) showed that in 12 of 21 cases, Hg concentrations had dropped significantly since 2000. This data signals a reduction in Hg contamination in terrestrial mammals, such as the Eurasian otter, and may be reason for cautious optimism.
长期以来，人类向环境中释放汞（Hg），导致了生物圈的污染，所有形式的汞都表现出毒性效应，并能够在生物体中积累。自 20 世纪 70 年代以来，西欧一直在努力减少汞排放并实现汞的经济利用，从而减少了人类和整个生态系统接触汞的机会。本研究的目的是介绍三种鼬科动物（食鱼的欧亚水獭和美洲水貂，以及食虫的欧洲獾）在波兰西北部（主要是洪泛区）和其他欧洲国家（文献数据）的总汞（THg）负荷。此外，我们还想研究欧洲环境汞负荷的减少是否导致了野生陆地哺乳动物（欧亚水獭、野猪、马鹿、狍、鹿科、兔科、啮齿动物和生态营养组：食鱼鼬科、其饮食包括水生猎物的非鼬科、犬科和其他食肉动物、杂食动物、食草动物）肝脏和肾脏中汞含量的减少。我们发现，与 2000 年前采集的样本相比，在被车撞死的美洲水貂中，肾脏中的 THg 含量明显更高。由于来自同一洪泛区的被车撞死的食鱼鼬科动物的肝脏和肾脏中 THg 浓度相似，我们建议欧洲的汞生态毒理学研究应更多地使用外来的美洲水貂代替受保护的欧亚水獭。栖息在波兰和其他欧洲洪泛区的獾生物积累的 THg 量高于其他地区的獾，因此可作为土壤汞污染的生物指示剂。我们对哺乳动物肝脏和肾脏 THg 浓度（不包括非食鱼鼬科）的大量数据进行了分析，结果表明，在 21 个案例中有 12 个案例的 Hg 浓度自 2000 年以来显著下降。这一数据表明，陆地哺乳动物（如欧亚水獭）的汞污染有所减少，这可能是谨慎乐观的理由。
