Concentrations of Selected Elements in Liver Tissue of Grey Wolves (Canis lupus) from Serbia

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology Vol. 99; no. 6; pp. 701 - 705
• Main Authors: Subotić, Srđan, Višnjić-Jeftić, Željka, Penezić, Aleksandra, Ćirović, Duško
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Aquatic Pollution; Bioindicators; Canidae; Canis lupus; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecosystem; Ecotoxicology; Emission analysis; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Pollutants - metabolism; Environmental Pollution; Food Chain; Food chains; Food contamination; Food webs; Indicator species; Inductively coupled plasma; Liver; Liver - chemistry; Liver - metabolism; Lupus; Pollution; Serbia; Soil Science & Conservation; Spectrometry; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Trace Elements - metabolism; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Wolves; Wolves - metabolism; Wolf; Ecotoxicology; Element concentration; ICP-OES
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-017-2209-0

The grey wolf ( Canis lupus ) is a large carnivore species and a top predator in the ecosystems that it inhabits. Considering its role in food webs, wolves may be exposed to high concentrations of potentially harmful elements. Therefore liver samples from 28 legally hunted wolves were analyzed for concentrations of 16 elements using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The Mann–Whitney U test showed a significant difference between the genders only for Li, and there were no differences between individuals caught in different years. The majority of statistically significant correlations between element levels were positive, except for three cases. Compliance with several criteria for suitable bioindicator organisms imply that wolves may serve for monitoring environmental contamination.