Annie Page, Clara Hay, Wendy Marks, Baylin Bennett, Matthew O Gribble, Wendy Noke Durden, Megan Stolen, Teresa Jablonski, Nadia Gordon, Trip Kolkmeyer, Mingshun Jiang, Nicole Pegg, Hunter Brown, Steve Burton
Odontocetes obtain nutrients including essential elements through their diet and are exposed to heavy metal contaminants via ingestion of contaminated prey. We evaluated the prevalence, concentration, and tissue distribution of essential and non-essential trace elements, including heavy metal toxicants, in tissue (blubber, kidney, liver, skeletal muscle, skin) and fecal samples collected from 90 odontocetes, representing nine species, that stranded in Georgia and Florida, USA during 2007-2021. Samples were analyzed for concentrations of seven essential (cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, zinc) and five non-essential (arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, thallium) elemental analytes using inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry...
February 15, 2024: Heliyon