Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, USA.
Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
Biol Lett. 2023 Aug;19(8):20230097. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0097. Epub 2023 Aug 9.
The thermal environment experienced by developing embryos can influence the utilization of maternally provisioned resources. Despite being particularly consequential for oviparous ectotherms, these dynamics are largely unexplored within ecotoxicological frameworks. Here, we test if incubation temperature interacts with maternally transferred mercury to affect subsequent body burdens and tissue distributions of mercury in hatchling American alligators (). Nine clutches of alligator eggs were collected from a mercury-contaminated reservoir and incubated at either female- or male-promoting temperatures. Total mercury (THg) concentration was measured in egg yolk collected during incubation and in a suite of tissues collected from hatchlings. THg concentrations in residual yolk and blood were higher in hatchlings incubated at cooler, female-promoting temperatures compared to the warmer, male-promoting temperatures. THg concentrations in most tissues were positively correlated with THg concentrations in blood and dermis, and egg yolk THg concentration was the best predictor of THg concentration in many resultant tissues. Our results highlight a hereto unknown role of the developmental environment in mediating tissue specific uptake of contaminants in an oviparous reptile.
胚胎发育过程中所经历的热环境会影响其对母体提供资源的利用。尽管这对卵生变温动物来说尤为重要，但在生态毒理学框架内，这些动态在很大程度上仍未得到探索。在这里，我们测试孵化温度是否与母体传递的汞相互作用，以影响孵化幼鳄（）体内的汞含量及其组织分布。我们从一个受汞污染的水库中收集了 9 窝鳄鱼卵，并将其在雌性或雄性促进温度下孵化。在孵化过程中收集的蛋黄和从孵化幼鳄中收集的一系列组织中测量总汞（THg）浓度。与较温暖的雄性促进温度相比，在较冷的雌性促进温度下孵化的幼鳄中，残留蛋黄和血液中的 THg 浓度更高。大多数组织中的 THg 浓度与血液和真皮中的 THg 浓度呈正相关，蛋黄中的 THg 浓度是许多组织中 THg 浓度的最佳预测因子。我们的结果强调了发育环境在调节卵生爬行动物组织中特定污染物摄取方面的未知作用。
