title: Food chain transfer of zinc within the ecosystems of old and modern metalliferous mine wastes.
abstract: Concentrations of zinc in mine waste, vegetation, invertebrate and small mammals from abandoned mines and a modern mine site have been determined in order to assess and compare environmental risk. Very high concentrations of zinc in mine waste from all sites were reflected in vegetation zinc levels but not in invertebrates and mammals. Physiological regulatory control mechanisms operate to optimise zinc retention, and maintain homeostasis in animals by enhancing absorption of zinc from diets low in the trace element, and by buffering the potential accumulative effects of high dietary levels of the metal. Zinc is not considered to be an acute toxicity factor precluding colonisation of these mine sites by invertebrates and mammals though it maybe a selective force influencing the species composition and relative abundance in animal communities.
authors.affiliation: Knight Piesold, Kanthack House, Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Milton
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D020387:Food Chain; D007448:Invertebrates; D008322:Mammals; D008906:Mining; D010944:Plants; D018570:Risk Assessment; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
chemical_list: D015032:Zinc