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Evaluation of the suitability of application of golden jackal (Canis aureus) hair as a noninvasive technique for determination of body burden mercury

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Abstract

An evaluation of suitability of applying hair as a noninvasive indicator for determination of the body burden mercury in mammals was carried out by determining the concentration of mercury in hair and liver tissue of the golden jackal, Canis aureus . Nineteen jackals killed on the roads along the Caspian Sea in the central region of Mazandaran Province, Iran were collected. The mercury measurements were carried out by AMA254 LECO and the standard method ASTM-D6722. SPSS and Excel were used for analytical statistics. There was a significant difference in Hg levels between the hair and liver tissue (P < 0.001). The average concentration of mercury was 187.3 ± 22.7 and 53.3 ± 7.3 ng/g, respectively. No significant differences were seen either between the sexes or in correlation between the tissues. But a significant and positive relation was seen between the mercury content in hair and body weight and length (P < 0.005). In general, the mercury concentration was less than the deleterious, effective limit on the species. It seems that this is the first study of Hg concentrations in jackals and demonstrates on easy and noninvasive sampling method.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mojtaba Hadavifar, Morteza Davodi, Mahdi Elahi, Maede Galedar and Fateme Rajaie who cooperated in all stages of this investigation. Thanks are given to Mrs. Manzar Haghdoost for her technical support, and to Ellen Vuosalo Tavakoli for final editing of the English text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Nour, Mazandaran, Iran

    Hassan Malvandi, Seyed Mahmoud Ghasempouri, Abbas Esmaili-Sari & Nader Bahramifar

  2. Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University (PNU), Sari, Iran

    Nader Bahramifar

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  1. Hassan Malvandi
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  2. Seyed Mahmoud Ghasempouri
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  3. Abbas Esmaili-Sari
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  4. Nader Bahramifar
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Correspondence to Seyed Mahmoud Ghasempouri.

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Malvandi, H., Ghasempouri, S.M., Esmaili-Sari, A. et al. Evaluation of the suitability of application of golden jackal (Canis aureus) hair as a noninvasive technique for determination of body burden mercury. Ecotoxicology 19, 997–1002 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-010-0504-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-010-0504-1

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