Department of Pathobiology-Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative-Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2022 Jun 28;17(6):e0269441. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269441. eCollection 2022.
Trace mineral imbalances can have significant effects on animal health, reproductive success, and survival. Monitoring their status in wildlife populations is, therefore, important for management and conservation. Typically, livers and kidneys are sampled to measure mineral status, but biopsies and lethal-sampling are not always possible, particularly for Species at Risk. We aimed to: 1) determine baseline mineral levels in Northern Mountain caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou; Gmelin, 1788) in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, and 2) determine if hair can be used as an effective indicator of caribou mineral status by evaluating associations between hair and organ mineral concentrations. Hair, liver, and kidney samples from adult male caribou (nHair = 31; nLiver, nKidney = 43) were collected by guide-outfitters in 2016-2018 hunting seasons. Trace minerals and heavy metals were quantified using inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and organ and hair concentrations of same individuals were compared. Some organ mineral concentrations differed from other caribou populations, though no clinical deficiency or toxicity symptoms were reported in our population. Significant correlations were found between liver and hair selenium (rho = 0.66, p<0.05), kidney and hair cobalt (rho = 0.51, p<0.05), and liver and hair molybdenum (rho = 0.37, p<0.10). These findings suggest that hair trace mineral assessment may be used as a non-invasive and easily-accessible way to monitor caribou selenium, cobalt, and molybdenum status, and may be a valuable tool to help assess overall caribou health.
痕量矿物质失衡会对动物健康、繁殖成功率和生存产生重大影响。因此，监测野生动物种群中的痕量矿物质状况对于管理和保护非常重要。通常，肝脏和肾脏是用来衡量矿物质状况的样本，但活检和致死性采样并不总是可行的，特别是对于濒危物种。我们的目的是：1）确定加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省西北部的北方山驯鹿（Rangifer tarandus caribou；Gmelin，1788）的基础矿物质水平，2）通过评估毛发与器官矿物质浓度之间的关系，确定毛发是否可以作为评估驯鹿矿物质状况的有效指标。2016-2018 年狩猎季节，由导游向导收集了成年雄性驯鹿的毛发、肝脏和肾脏样本（nHair=31；nLiver，nKidney=43）。使用电感耦合等离子体质谱法定量测定痕量矿物质和重金属，比较了同一批个体的器官和毛发浓度。一些器官矿物质浓度与其他驯鹿种群不同，但在我们的种群中没有报告临床缺乏或毒性症状。在肝脏和毛发硒（rho=0.66，p<0.05）、肾脏和毛发钴（rho=0.51，p<0.05）以及肝脏和毛发钼（rho=0.37，p<0.10）之间发现了显著相关性。这些发现表明，毛发痕量矿物质评估可能被用作一种非侵入性和易于获取的方法来监测驯鹿的硒、钴和钼状况，并且可能是评估驯鹿整体健康状况的一种有价值的工具。
