title: Bone as a surrogate tissue to monitor metals in baleen whales.
abstract: Metals are massively deposited in the marine environment through direct emissions or atmospheric dry and wet depositions, a process since long enhanced by human activities. Metal contamination in the marine organisms has been increasingly investigated, but most research focuses on few tissues, elements and species considered indicative. Baleen whales have been scarcely studied in this respect. Here we contribute to the fragmented knowledge on this field examining the concentrations of zinc, copper, lead, titanium and strontium in the bone of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from NW Spain and W Iceland. Bone was selected because it is a tissue commonly available in archival historic collections, and it is therefore useful to examine long-term trends in metal pollution. We tested differences between populations and we investigated age- and sex-related accumulation trends, as well as the occurrence of placental transfer. Sr concentrations and Pb accumulation rates with age were significantly higher in individuals from NW Spain than in those from W Iceland. Placental transfer occurred, at different levels, for all metals: as a result fetuses showed significantly higher Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations than adults. After birth, only Zn and Pb concentrations significantly increased with age. Through this study we contributed to fill some gaps in the knowledge regarding metal contamination in marine mammals, and we concluded that bone can be a suitable surrogate tissue to monitor a number of trace elements, provided that dissimilarities in tissue-specific deposition are taken into account when comparing concentrations from different tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences and Institute of Biodiversity Research (IRBio), Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: morgana.vighi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Morgana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vighi
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences and Institute of Biodiversity Research (IRBio), Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Asunción
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borrell
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences and Institute of Biodiversity Research (IRBio), Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aguilar
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism*; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000378:metabolism*; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D050617:Fin Whale / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland; D008297:Male; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008670:Metals; D014131:Trace Elements
keywords: Cetaceans; Cu; Pb; Sr; Ti; Zn