Preprint Communication Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Lead Levels in the Bones of Small Rodents from Alpine and Subalpine Habitats in the Tian-Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan

Version 1 : Received: 12 January 2018 / Approved: 17 January 2018 / Online: 17 January 2018 (11:37:36 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Ballová, Z.; Janiga, M. Lead Levels in the Bones of Small Rodents from Alpine and Subalpine Habitats in the Tian-Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan. Atmosphere 2018, 9, 35. Ballová, Z.; Janiga, M. Lead Levels in the Bones of Small Rodents from Alpine and Subalpine Habitats in the Tian-Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan. Atmosphere 2018, 9, 35.

Abstract

High mountain areas are an appropriate indicator of anthropogenic lead (Pb), which can reach the remote mountain ranges through long distance atmospheric transport. We compared the content of Pb in ecologically equivalent rodent species from Tian-Shan with European mountain ranges Tatra, Vitosha and Rila mountains. We used bone tissues from terminal tail vertebrae of small rodents for detection of Pb levels by using electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The tail bones of Tian-Shan rodents had significantly lower Pb levels than snow voles from Tatra mountains, but there was no significant difference in comparison with Vitosha and Rila mountains. We can conclude that Tian-Shan shows lower pollution by Pb than Tatra mountains, what may be a reason of longer lasting industrialization of north-western Europe and strongly prevailing west winds in Tatra mountains.

Keywords

lead pollution; alpine environments; Alticola argentatus; Microtus gregalis; atmospheric deposition; heavy metals

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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