ijerph-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Contaminants in Wildlife through Non-invasive Tools: Monitoring and Effects Evaluation

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 4798

Special Issue Editors

Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Vespucci 2, 47042 Cesenatico (FC), Italy
Interests: ecotoxicology; heavy metals; endocrine disruption; risk assessment; POPs; aquatic vertebrates; wildlife
Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Vespucci 2, 47042 Cesenatico, FC, Italy
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production Division of Food and Veterinary Toxicology University of Naples Federico II via Delpino 1, 80137 Naples, Italy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Contaminants are continuously increasing their concentrations in all environmental compartments, and novel polluting substances are identified on a yearly basis. Wildlife is constantly exposed to these compounds, accumulating them in their tissues and experiencing potential adverse effects. To assess their accumulation and effects, sampling of best tissue/organ possible is a key step; when dealing with wildlife species, many factors can reduce the possibility of obtaining internal tissues or blood samples, due to logistic (difficulties in capturing and constraining the animal) and ethical (highly endangered species) reasons. The use and validation of non-invasive sampling methods (i.e., analysis of feces, scutes, hair, feathers, etc. for contaminants and biomarkers quantification) and their application to wildlife is more and more common. This approach also enables long-term monitoring of pollutants and biomarkers, providing tools to be used to verify the effectiveness of remediation strategies. Papers addressing these topics, in both terrestrial and aquatic organisms, are invited for this Special Issue, especially those combining pollutants and biomarkers monitoring or environmental risk assessment.

Dr. Annalisa Zaccaroni
Dr. Rebecca Andreini
Dr. Andrea Ariano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Contaminants
  • wildlife species
  • non-invasive monitoring
  • biomarkers
  • terrestrial species
  • aquatic species
  • cause-effect evaluation
  • risk assessment

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 917 KiB  
Article
Heavy Metal Assessment in Feathers of Eurasian Magpies (Pica pica): A Possible Strategy for Monitoring Environmental Contamination?
by Tiziano Iemmi, Alessandro Menozzi, Marcos Pérez-López, Giuseppina Basini, Francesca Grasselli, Simonetta Menotta, Paolo Serventi and Simone Bertini
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(6), 2973; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18062973 - 14 Mar 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2085
Abstract
In the present study, the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica), was evaluated as a possible bioindicator of environmental pollution by heavy metals (HMs). Levels of Ni, Pb, Cd, and Hg in feathers of 64 magpies (31 males and 33 females) were measured [...] Read more.
In the present study, the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica), was evaluated as a possible bioindicator of environmental pollution by heavy metals (HMs). Levels of Ni, Pb, Cd, and Hg in feathers of 64 magpies (31 males and 33 females) were measured by ICP-MS technique. Plasmatic biomarkers of oxidative stress (OS) were also assessed. The birds were captured in the province of Parma (Italy), in different capture sites within 1 km from urban area (UZ), and farther than 5 km from urban area (RZ). Median HM levels were 0.68 mg/kg (0.18–2.27), 2.80 mg/kg (0.41–17.7), <limit of detection (LOD) mg/kg (<LOD–0.25), 3.90 mg/kg (1.35–85.9) for Ni, Pb, Cd and Hg, respectively. No significant differences in HM levels were found according to sex, while Ni and Pb were significantly higher in adult compared to young birds (p = 0.047, p = 0.004). Conversely, Cd and Hg levels in young magpies resulted higher than those of adults (p = 0.001 and p = 0.004). No correlation was found between OS biomarkers and HM levels. No differences were found in HM levels according to capture area, except for Hg level, which resulted higher in magpies of RZ (4.05 mg/kg (1.35–12.7)) compared to UZ (2.99 mg/kg (1.54–85.9)). Further experiments are needed to establish whether magpie feathers could represent a suitable non-invasive tool for biomonitoring HMs in the environment. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 862 KiB  
Article
Exploratory Factor Analysis of Rainbow Trout Serum Chemistry Variables
by Maurizio Manera
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(4), 1537; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18041537 - 05 Feb 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2364
Abstract
Clinical chemistry offers a valuable, affordable, moderately invasive, and nondisruptive way to assess animal physiological status and wellness within defined ranges and is widely used as a diagnostic clinical tool. Because of physiological differences between mammals, clinical correlates of blood chemistry variables are [...] Read more.
Clinical chemistry offers a valuable, affordable, moderately invasive, and nondisruptive way to assess animal physiological status and wellness within defined ranges and is widely used as a diagnostic clinical tool. Because of physiological differences between mammals, clinical correlates of blood chemistry variables are not known in detail in fish, in which tissue/organ function tests are inferred from mammal-derived clinical chemistry data. The aim of the present study was to apply exploratory factor analysis on a serum chemistry dataset from clinically healthy, reared rainbow trout Oncorhynchusmykiss (Walbaum, 1792) to select the most correlated variables and to test for possible underlying factors explaining the observed correlations as possible physiological status estimates in trout. The obtained factors were tested for correlation with hepatosomatic and splenosomatic indexes. Thirteen highly correlated variables were selected out of 18 original serum chemistry variables, and three underlying factors (Factors 1, 2, and 3) were identified that explained the observed correlations among variables. Moreover, Factor 1 correlated negatively with the hepatosomatic index and Factors 2 and 3 negatively with the splenosomatic index. The obtained factors were tentatively associated with: protein (liver) metabolism (Factor 1), cell turnover (Factor 2), and lipid (muscle) metabolism (Factor 3). Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop