Ants as bioaccumulators of metals from soils: Body content and tissue-specific distribution of metals in the ant Crematogaster scutellaris

Gramigni, Elisa; Calusi, S.; Gelli, N.; Giuntini, L.; Massi, M.; Delfino, Giovanni; Chelazzi, Guido; Baracchi, David; Frizzi, Filippo; Santini, Giacomo

doi:10.1016/j.ejsobi.2013.05.006

Cited by 36 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…In ants, a high capacity of metal accumulation has been reported in different species (Koponen & Niemelä, 1995; Grześ, 2010). Rabitsch (1997) and Gramigni et al (2013) showed that metal accumulation patterns in ants is governed by the degree of site pollution and biased by species-specific properties. Considering wasps, to date only two studies were carried out, involving the social wasp genera Dolichovespula (Kowalczyk & Watala, 1989) and Polistes (Urbini et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrastructural Alterations of Midgut Epithelium, But Not Greater Wing Fluctuating Asymmetry, in Paper Wasps (Polistes dominula) from Urban Environments

et al. 2018

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Polistes paper wasps can be used to monitor trace metal contaminants, but the effects of pollution on the health of these insects are still unknown. We evaluated, in a south-eastern area of Spain, whether workers of Polistes dominula collected at urban and rural sites differ in health of midgut tissue and in fluctuating asymmetry, an estimate of developmental noise. We found that wasps collected at the urban sites had abundant lead (Pb)-containing spherites, which were less visible in wasps from the rural sites. Evident ultrastructural alterations in the epithelium of the midgut of the wasps collected at the urban sites included broken and disorganized microvilli, a high amount and density of heterochromatin in the nucleus of epithelial cells, cytoplasmic vacuolization and mitochondrial disruptions. Altogether, these findings suggest a negative effect on the transmembrane transport and a less efficient transcription. On the contrary, a healthy epithelium was observed in wasps from the rural sites. These differences may be preliminarily linked with levels of lead pollution, given that wasps from urban sites had double the Pb concentrations of wasps from rural sites. Level of fluctuating asymmetry was unrelated to wasp origin, thus suggesting no link between developmental noise and Pb-driven pollution.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrastructural Alterations of Midgut Epithelium, But Not Greater Wing Fluctuating Asymmetry, in Paper Wasps (Polistes dominula) from Urban Environments

et al. 2018

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“…As a rule, in permanent crops exposed to intense farming, the homogenization of the habitat can have detrimental effects on arthropod communities, particularly on ants [7]. In the case of the olive groves in this study, chemical compounds were not used, with the exception of copper sulfate as a fungicide, concentrations of which seem to be effectively regulated in ant tissues [78,79].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Day-Night and Inter-Habitat Variations in Ant Assemblages in a Mosaic Agroforestry Landscape

Frizzi

Tucci

Ottonetti

et al. 2021

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Throughout the Mediterranean basin, the long-term interaction between human activities and natural processes has led to the formation of unique ecosystems whose biodiversity may be higher than that of the “original” systems. This is particularly true in the case of transformations of continuous stretches of closed forest into a complex mosaic of open and closed habitat over the course of centuries. In this study, we assessed the variation in diversity of ant assemblages in a typical patchy landscape, sampling ants in the three most important constituting habitats: olive plantation, harvested forest, and mature forest. In the study we used two different sampling methods—pitfall traps and observation at baits—which provided information on species presence at different temporal scales. The three habitats displayed different species assemblages, and considerable variation in species composition was observed at different times of the day, particularly in the harvested forest. Functional group analysis showed that the olive plantation, although the most artificial habitat, displayed the highest number of functional groups, suggesting a wider spectrum of available ecological niches for ant species within this habitat type. Overall, it was concluded that each of the three habitats contributes to enhance diversity at the landscape scale, which is greater than that expected from a more homogeneous habitat composition.

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“…The Florence external microbeam has been widely used for applications in the cultural heritage field [ 13 , 42 , 43 ], and for measurements of interest in earth sciences [ 44 ], material science [ 45 , 46 ] and biology [ 47 ].…”

Section: Accelerator Beamlinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

LABEC, the INFN ion beam laboratory of nuclear techniques for environment and cultural heritage

et al. 2021

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The LABEC laboratory, the INFN ion beam laboratory of nuclear techniques for environment and cultural heritage, located in the Scientific and Technological Campus of the University of Florence in Sesto Fiorentino, started its operational activities in 2004, after INFN decided in 2001 to provide our applied nuclear physics group with a large laboratory dedicated to applications of accelerator-related analytical techniques, based on a new 3 MV Tandetron accelerator. The new accelerator greatly improved the performance of existing Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) applications (for which we were using since the 1980s an old single-ended Van de Graaff accelerator) and in addition allowed to start a novel activity of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), in particular for 14C dating. Switching between IBA and AMS operation became very easy and fast, which allowed us high flexibility in programming the activities, mainly focused on studies of cultural heritage and atmospheric aerosol composition, but including also applications to biology, geology, material science and forensics, ion implantation, tests of radiation damage to components, detector performance tests and low-energy nuclear physics. This paper describes the facilities presently available in the LABEC laboratory, their technical features and some success stories of recent applications.

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Ants as bioaccumulators of metals from soils: Body content and tissue-specific distribution of metals in the ant Crematogaster scutellaris

Cited by 36 publications

References 52 publications

Ultrastructural Alterations of Midgut Epithelium, But Not Greater Wing Fluctuating Asymmetry, in Paper Wasps (Polistes dominula) from Urban Environments

Ultrastructural Alterations of Midgut Epithelium, But Not Greater Wing Fluctuating Asymmetry, in Paper Wasps (Polistes dominula) from Urban Environments

Day-Night and Inter-Habitat Variations in Ant Assemblages in a Mosaic Agroforestry Landscape

LABEC, the INFN ion beam laboratory of nuclear techniques for environment and cultural heritage

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