Abstract
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.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the support provided by Projects No. TR31009 and 173045, funded by Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. The authors would like to thank dr Miroslav Nikolić and dr Ljiljana Kostić-Kravljanac for their help during heavy metal analysis, and to anonymous reviewers for providing helpful comments and suggestions that improved the quality of the paper.
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Subotić, S., Višnjić-Jeftić, Ž., Penezić, A. et al. Concentrations of Selected Elements in Liver Tissue of Grey Wolves (Canis lupus) from Serbia. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 99, 701–705 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-017-2209-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-017-2209-0