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Assessment of the effects of urbanization on trace elements of toe bones

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Abstract

Amphibians, particularly frogs and toads, are increasingly used as bioindicators of contaminant accumulation in pollution studies. We developed an analytical technique to analyse their elemental contents based on a small amount of toe bone samples. This method is environment-friendly as, unlike traditional methods, it is not necessary to kill animals during sampling. Using this technique, we explored the effects of urbanization on the elemental contents of toe bones. Bufo bufo specimens were collected from an urban and two rural ponds. The ratios of Ca and P at the ponds were: 20.5% Ca and 14.6% P at the urban pond and 30.4% and 29.6% Ca, 22.4% and 21.7% P at the rural ponds, respectively. For the other elements, the following percentage ratios were found: 0.7% B, 0.3% Mg and 0.06% Zn at the urban pond and 1.1% and 0.4% B, 0.4% Mg and 0.05% Zn at the rural ponds, respectively. Canonical discriminant analysis indicated the separation of the urban and the rural ponds based on the elemental concentrations of toe bones. Significant differences were found between the concentrations of Ca, P, Mg, B and Zn at the urban and the rural ponds (p < 0.05). Anthropogenic activity was found to have effects on the elemental contents of toe bones in the urbanized area. Our study also demonstrated that the developed method was appropriate for the elemental analysis of small samples to assess the effects of urbanization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, P.O. Box 71, 4010, Hungary

    Edina Simon & Béla Tóthmérész

  2. Hungarian Danube Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Jávorka S. u. 14, Göd, 2131, Hungary

    Miklós Puky

  3. Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, P.O. Box 21, 4010, Hungary

    Mihály Braun

Authors
  1. Edina Simon
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  2. Miklós Puky
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  3. Mihály Braun
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  4. Béla Tóthmérész
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Correspondence to Edina Simon.

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Simon, E., Puky, M., Braun, M. et al. Assessment of the effects of urbanization on trace elements of toe bones. Environ Monit Assess 184, 5749–5754 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2378-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2378-y

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