Non-lethal sampling for mercury evaluation in crocodilians

I got it from my mother: Inter-nest variation of mercury concentration in neonate Smooth-fronted Caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus) suggests maternal transfer and possible phenotypical effects

“…1). The results are similar to what is found in the keratinized tissues of Caiman yacare (between 95.7 ± 92.2 and 0.263 ± 0.158 µg.g -1 in scutes, Lázaro et al, 2015) and Caiman crocodilus (between 0.131 ± 0.038 and 0.647 ± 0.547 µg.g -1 in claws, Marrugo-Negrete et al, 2019) sub-adults in South America. Keratinized tissues are known to accumulate Hg due to its affinity to cysteine residues in beta-keratin, where Hg fixes on SH groups (Alibardi, 2003;Alibardi and Toni, 2007).…”

“…In certain geographical areas (e.g., Amazon region), the abundant natural Hg in soil and biota (e.g. an average of 0.3 µg.g -1 in forest soil in French Guiana, Richard et al, 2000), human activities such as deforestation, gold mining activities and agriculture additionally contribute to increase Hg bioavailability (Roulet et al, 1998;Maurice-Bourgoin et al, 2000, Vieira et al, 2011Schneider et al, 2012;Correia et al, 2014;Eggins et al, 2015;Lázaro et al, 2015;Schneider et al, 2015;Rivera et al, 2016, Marrugo-Negrete et al, 2019, Lemaire et al, 2021.…”

“…Mercury concentrations obtained in crocodilian tissues have been shown to reflect the contamination of the individual's environment across different temporal scales (Lázaro et al, 2015;Schneider et al, 2015). Blood Hg concentration is thought to reflect relatively recent J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f exposure, while keratinized tissues (e.g., scales and claws) seem to reflect Hg concentration accumulated during longer time periods (Schneider et al, 2015).…”

Endophytic fungal communities of Polygonum acuminatum and Aeschynomene fluminensis are influenced by soil mercury contamination

“…The history of gold mining in the city of Poconé began with large scale exploration in the 1980s, resulting in one of the biggest anthropogenic impacts on the Pantanal: mercury contamination in bodies of water [4], sediments [3] and fauna [5–7]. …”

“…The use in the artisanal beneficiation of gold considerably contributed to this increase in environmental mercury. In Brazil, mercury contamination occurs mainly in areas located in the Amazon region [2], but an increase in mercury concentrations in other biomes, as in the Pantanal, the worlds largest humid freshwater area, has been reported in Brazil [3,4] mercury contamination in aligators [5], fish [6] and molluscs [7] is caused by the poor mining practices in gold mines in the Pantanal.…”