Is trace element concentration correlated to parasite abundance? A case study in a population of the green frog Pelophylax synkl. hispanicus from the Neto River (Calabria, southern Italy)

Abstract

Bioaccumulation of 13 trace elements in the livers of 38 Pelophylax sinkl. hispanicus (Ranidae) and its helminth communities were studied and compared among three sites, each with a different degree of pollution along River Neto (south Italy) during September, 2014. Trace element concentrations in water and liver were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. For most elements, the highest concentration was recorded in the frogs inhabiting the third site, the one with the highest degree of pollution. The trend of trace element concentration in the liver can be represented as follows: Cu > Zn > Mn > Se > Cr. Concentrations of some elements in water and liver samples were significantly different among the three sites and this is evidenced by the bioaccumulation in the frogs. Four species of helminths, all belonging to Nematoda, were found: Rhabdias sp., Oswaldocruzia filiformis (Goeze, 1782), Cosmocerca ornata (Dujarden, 1845), Seuratascaris numidica (Seurat, 1917). The parasite survey presents an important difference of prevalence and average number of helminths in frogs between the three sites. Correlating parasitological and ecotoxicological data showed a strong positive correlation between prevalence and number of parasites with some trace elements such as Mn, Co, Ni, As, Se, and Cd.

Impacts of trace metals on African common toad, Amietophrynus regularis (Reuss, 1833) and depuration effects of the toad's enteric parasite, Amplicaecum africanum (Taylor, 1924) sampled within Lagos metropolis, Nigeria

“…The detoxification potential of the parasites in the current study may be partly linked to the low parasitological indices, particularly percentage prevalence, which was generally below 50%. Relatively higher parasitological indices previously reported in green frog, Pelophylax synkl was associated with more immunosuppression than depuration effects (De Denato et al, 2017).…”

“…On the other hand, the concentration of the toxicant in the host may be reduced through accumulation by the parasites (Koprivnikar et al, 2007;Griggs and Belden, 2008). Intricate interactions between pollutants and parasites in the host have been reported (De Denato et al, 2017;Gilbert and Avenant-Oldewage, 2017), showing parasite's ability to reduce pollutants levels in infected hosts compared with uninfected conspecifics (Sures, 2007(Sures, , 2008Sures et al, 2017).…”

Contamination by Trace Elements and Oxidative Stress in the Skeletal Muscle of Scyliorhinus canicula from the Central Tyrrhenian Sea

“…Analysis of trace elements was performed by using a combination of acid attacks and an Elan DRCe (Perkin Elmer/SCIEX) Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS), which is routinely used to determine almost all chemical elements in solid or soft tissues [5,20,35].…”

Trace elements and isotopes analyses on historical samples of white sharks from the Mediterranean Sea

“…(LA-ICP-MS; De Donato et al 2017;Barca et al 2019). In addition to the LA-ICP-MS, the electron probe micro-analyser with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EPMA-EDS) were also used for the analysis of the major elements in order to detect the presence of elements with concentrations higher than 0.2 wt % (Shoval 2018).…”