Bank voles as monitors of environmental contamination by heavy metals. A remote wilderness area in Poland imperiled.
Concentrations of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Fe) were determined in the tissues of bank voles collected in polluted forest sites in southern Poland and in Białowieza National Park. The highest cadmium concentrations were found in livers (0.9-12.8 microg g(-1)) and kidneys (3.2-29.6 microg g(-1)), whereas the lowest were in bones (0.2-0.9 microg g(-1)). The lead concentrations found in kidneys and bones ranged from 9.5 to 40.0 microg g(-1). The ranges of zinc, iron and copper concentrations in the tissues of animals were: 137-343 microg g(-1), 206-1017 microg(-1) and 12.0-73.8 microg(-1), respectively. Some of the differences between the levels found in various sites were statistically significant.
Sawicka-Kapusta
K
K
Department of Animal Ecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Jagiellonian University, 30-060 Cracow, Poland.
Swiergosz
R
R
Zakrzewska
M
M