Abstract
Bank vole, yellow necked mouse, and common shrew, three most common and wildly distributed species of small mammals in forest ecosystems, were used as monitors to estimate heavy metal contamination of natural environment in Poland Animals were caught between 1980 and 1994 in seven national parks, two moderate and one heavily polluted forest sites and two pristine areas. Five elements (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Fe) were determined using AAS method in liver, kidneys, bones and whole bodies of animals. Heavy metal concentrations in rodents were lower than in insectivorous species. Animals from pristine areas (Bialowieza and Borecka Forest) had lower concentrations of heavy metals than animals from polluted areas. Extremely high concentrations of toxic metals were found in small mammals from Olkusz Forest. During fourteen years small mammals using as monitors showed different contamination of investigated areas. Recently they confirmed decreasing pollution trend in Poland. They also showed that still ecosystems located close to industrial sources are highly contaminated.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Environmental Protection. (1996) Information and statistical data, General Statistical Office, Warsaw, Poland.
Tyler, G. (1989) Uptake, retention and toxicity of heavy metals in lichens, Water, Air and Soil Pollut. 47, 321–333.
Samiullah, Y. (1990) Biological monitoring of environmental contaminants: animals, MARC, Rep. 37, Monit. Assess. Res. Center, London.
Martin, M.H. and Coughtrey, P.J. (1982) Biological monitoring of heavy metals pollution - land and air, Applied Science Publ., London.
Talmage, S.S. and Walton, B.T. (1991) Small mammals as monitors of environmental contaminants, Rev. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 119, 47–145.
Sawicka-Kapusta, K. and Zakrzewska, M. (1994) Small mammals as monitors of environmental contamination, Abstracts Third European Conference on Ecotoxicology - SECOTOX, Zurich, Switzerland, August 28–31.
Beyer, W.M., Pattee, O.H., Sileo, L., Hoffman, D.J., and Mulhern, B.M. (1985) Metal contamination in wildlife living near two zinc smelters, Environ. Pollut., Ser. A, 38, 63–86.
Cloutier, N.R., Clulow, F.A., Lim, T.P., and Dave, N.K. (1985) Metal (Cu, Ni, Fe, Co, Zn, Pb) and Ra-226 levels in meadow voles Microtus pennsylvanicus living on nickel and uranium mine tailings in Ontario, Canada: Environmental and tissue levels, Environ. Pollut., Ser. B, 10, 19–46.
Cooke, J.A., Andrews, S.M., and Johnson, M.S. (1990) Lead, zinc, cadmium and fluoride in small mammals from contaminated grassland established on fluorspar tailings, Water, Air, and Soil Pollut. 51, 43–54.
Scanlon, P.F. (1987) Heavy metals in small mammals in roadsite environments: implications for food chains, Sci. Total Environ. 59, 317–323.
Zakrzewska, M., Sawicka-Kapusta, K., Perdenia, A., and Wosik, A. (1993) Heavy metals in bank voles from Polish National Parks. Proc. of the Second European Conference on Ecotoxicology, 11–15 May, Amsterdam, The Netherlands., W. Slooff and H. de Kruijf (eds.), Sci. Total Environ., Supplement, Part 1, 167–172.
Sawicka-Kapusta, K., Zakrzewska, M., and Lenda, B. (1993) Heavy metals in the common shrews from Polish National Parks, in R. J. Allan and J.O. Nriagu (eds.), Heavy metals in the Environment, Intern. Confer. Toronto, vol. 1, 123–126, CEP Consultants, Edinburgh.
Sawicka-Kapusta, K., Gorecki, A., and Lange, R. (1987) Heavy metals in rodents from polluted forests in southern Poland, Ekol. pol. 35, 345–354.
Sawicka-Kapusta, K., Swiergosz, R., and Zakrzewska, M. (1990) Bank voles as monitors of environmental contamination by heavy metals. A remote wilderness area in Poland imperilled, Environ. Pollut., 67, 315–324.
Sawicka-Kapusta, K., Zakrzewska, M., Kowalska, A., Lenda, B., and Skrobacz, M. (1995) Heavy metal concentrations in small mammals from Borecka Forest, Arch. Ochr. Œrod. 3–4, 229–234.
Sawicka-Kapusta, K., Zakrzewska, M., and Chelstowska, J. (1994) Heavy metals in small mammals from three different forest areas in Poland, in I. Meszaros (ed.), Toxicity, Hazard, Risk, Proc. of SECOTOX 3rd Regional CCEE, Balatonaliga, Hungary, Acta Biol. Debr. Oecol. Hung. 5, 277–284.
Sawicka-Kapusta, K. and Stachowicz, A. (1993) Heavy metals in small mammals from contaminated forest in Southern Poland, Abstracts First SETAC World Congress Ecotoxicology and Environmental Chemistry - a Global Perspective, Lisbon, Portugal, March 28–31.
Borowski, W. (1996) Levels of heavy metals in small mammals from Olkusz Forest, M. Sc. Thesis Jagiellonian University, Krakow.
Sawicka-Kapusta, K., Zakrzewska, M., Kowalska, A., and Stachowicz, A. (1995) Heavy metals in small mammals from different forests in Southern Poland, Abstracts 2nd European Congress of Mammalogy, J. Gurnell (ed.), Southampton, England, 27 March - 1 April.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sawicka-Kapusta, K., Zakrzewska, M. (1998). Use of Small Mammals for Monitoring Heavy Metal Contamination in the Environment. In: Linkov, I., Wilson, R. (eds) Air Pollution in the Ural Mountains. NATO ASI Series, vol 40. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5208-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5208-2_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6192-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5208-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive