Age Differences in Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in Populations of the Black-Striped Field Mouse, Apodemusagrarius(Rodentia, Mammalia)
2012
Authors:
Blagojević, JelenaJovanović, Vladimir
Stamenković, Gorana
Jojić, Vida
Bugarski-Stanojević, Vanja
Adnađević, Tanja
Vujošević, Mladen
Document Type:
Article (Published version)
,
© 2012 by the University of Tehran, Graduate Faculty of Environment
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract:
Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the skulls of black-striped field mice (Apodemusagrarius)
was compared for two localities in Serbia differing in the level of pollution. Eight heavy metals: Fe, Mn, Co,
Cd, Zn, Ni, Pb and Cu, were quantitatively analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry.Four of them
(Mn, Cd, Fe and Ni) showed significantly higher concentrations at the polluted location than in the relatively
unpolluted one. Concentrations of heavy metals in three age categories exhibited opposite patterns depending
on pollution levels. At the unpolluted locality heavy metal concentrations were the highest in the youngest
group and lower in older animals. In contrast, bone metal concentrations increased with age class at the more
polluted site. At the same time, we found that young animals from the polluted location had a statistically
significant lower relative body mass (RBM) than those from the unpolluted area(t = 7.155, p < 0.001), which
may have been caused by heavy metals or other factors associated with pollution. In general, we found that age
is a critical factor for estimating the level of heavy metal pollution, so proper investigations should account for
the age structure of the samples.
Keywords:
Heavy metal; Relative body mass (RBM); Age category; Apodemus agrariusSource:
International Journal of Environmental Research, 2012, 6, 4, 1045-1052Funding / projects:
- Genetic and phenetic diversity in natural populations across different environments - contribution of B chromosome polymorphism (RS-MESTD-Basic Research (BR or ON)-173003)