Heavy Metals in Tissues of Hares in Finland, 1980–82 and 1992–93

Abstract

The anthropogenic load of trace metals from industrial emissions to the atmosphere has significantly increased the aerial deposition of lead, cadmium and zinc and to a lesser extent of copper and nickel during the twentieth century. This is particularly true in southern Finland, where atmospheric deposition, concentrations in water and accumulation in sediments of these metals all exceed those in central and northern Finland. The deposition of trace metals in Finland occurs simultaneously with that of acidic compounds (Verta et al. 1990). Several industrial processes including combustion of fossil fuels, mining, metal processing and as well as refuse incineration contribute to these emissions, which are mainly concentrated in intensively populated industrial areas. Airborne pollutants are transported over long distances and can be detected in remote areas in amounts that greatly exceed the natural background level (Johnson 1987). Longrange transport is the primary source of lead, zinc and cadmium in Finland, but local sources are more important in the deposition of copper and nickel (Verta 1989).A major investigation of lead, cadmium, copper and zinc was performed at the National Veterinary Institute in 1980-1982. The study included 212 mountain hares (Lepua timidus) and 188 European hares (Lepus europaeus) in 15 game management areas. The results of this investigation have not been published earlier. It was decided in the autumn of 1992 to continue the investigation of hares by taking samples in four game management areas similiar to those of the earlier investigation. The areas were divided so that the game management areas of south-eastern, south-western and southern Finland together comprised the industrial area of Finland. The game management area of Oulu on the other hand represented northern FinlandThe aim of the present study was to compare possible area1 differences and to follow the changes in heavy metal concentrations in hares during a period of about ten years. The environment and diet of mountain hares and European hares often differ clearly from each other, and therefore the investigation provided information about the concentrations of heavy metals both in forests, near cultivated lands and in population centres. The mountain hare can take advantage of different diets at different times. In the summertime it eats mainly grass and the leaves of bushes. In the autumn and in the spring before the beginning of the growing season it eats the twigs of bilberries.Willow and birch bark and twigs are the most important nourishment for mountain hares in the wintertime. The European hare eats considerably less plants with woody stems than the Correspondence to: E.-R. Venäläinen 251

Hepatic mercury, cadmium, and lead in mink and otter from New York State: monitoring environmental contamination

“…Cadmium may biomagnify considerably in terrestrial herbivores (Musante et al 1993;Nolet et al 1994;Gustafson et al 2000;Larison et al 2000) or in small mammals dependent on detritus-based food chains (Talmage and Walton 1991;Cook and Johnson 1996) resulting in the typical terrestrial prey of mink having elevated Cd concentrations (Everett and Anthony 1977;Erickson and Lindzey 1983;Frank 1986;Halbrook et al 1993). The distribution of Cd among plant species and various plant tissues can be quite variable, increasing spatial and seasonal variation in herbivores (Larison et al 2000), and may even result in a considerable difference in accumulated concentrations between closely related species having only a minor difference in diet (e.g., Venalainen et al 1996;Poole et al 1998). Variability in plant Cd concentration coupled with added spatial variability in soil characteristics affecting Cd mobility tend to weaken potential relationships between atmospheric deposition and Cd burden in terrestrial consumers (Glooschenko et al 1988).…”

Chemical composition of wild boar meat and relationship between age and bioaccumulation of heavy metals in muscle and liver tissue

“…The following animals were found to be good bio-indicators: hare (Lepus europaeus) (Paukert and Obrusnik 1986;Baikov et al 1994;Bukovjan et al 1995;Milanov 1995), deer, elk, reindeer (Frøslie et al 1984;Niemi et al 1993;Vena¨la¨inen et al 1996) and wild boar (Racz and Vandewaterl 1982;Falandysz and Lorenc-Biala 1988; Monkiewicz and Jaczewski 1990;Michalska and _ Zmudzki 1992;Falandysz 1994;Kryn´ski and Wrzesien´1994;Kryn´ski et al 1996;Krupa and Szmulik 2000).…”

Environmental cadmium and zinc concentrations in liver and kidney of European hare from different Serbian regions

“…Accumulation of toxic and essential elements in hare organs has been studied by a number of authors [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Considering values obtained by sampling regions ( Table 1) we noticed that the median values, of both the metals, are probably affected by random individual variations, age structure of collected animals and the sample size from the particular sampling region.…”