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Assessment of mercury concentrations in small mammals collected near Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Author(s) -
Gerstenberger S. L.,
Cross C. L.,
Divine D. D.,
Gulmatico M. L.,
Rothweiler A. M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
environmental toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1522-7278
pISSN - 1520-4081
DOI - 10.1002/tox.20221
Subject(s) - mercury (programming language) , peromyscus , las vegas , biology , zoology , ecology , geography , archaeology , metropolitan area , computer science , programming language
Abstract Mercury concentrations in liver and hair tissue were determined for five species of small mammals captured near Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. These data were then used to evaluate the suitability of using hair as a noninvasive technique for determining body burdens of mercury. A total of 104 small mammals were captured and analyzed; four main species were examined and included: Dipodomys merriami , Chaetodipus penicillatus , Peromyscus eremicus , and Neotoma lepida . Mean mercury concentrations were highest in N. lepida , followed by D. merriami , C. penicillatus , and P. eremicus respectively. Positive associations were found between hair and liver taken from D. merriami ( r = 0.647) and C. penicillatus ( r = 0.533) indicating that hair may be a suitable indicator of body burdens in these two species. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 21: 583–589, 2006.