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Distributions of Total Mercury and Methylmercury in Dragonflies from a Large, Abandoned Mercury Mining Region in China

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Abstract

Dragonflies (Order Odonata) often are considered to be biosentinels of environmental contamination, e.g., heavy metals and/or persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Dragonflies (n = 439) belonging to 15 species of 8 genera were collected from an abandoned mercury (Hg) mining region in China to investigate the bioaccumulation of total Hg (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg). THg and MeHg concentrations in dragonflies varied widely within ranges of 0.06–19 mg/kg (average: 1.5 ± 2.2 mg/kg) and 0.02–5.7 mg/kg (average: 0.75 ± 0.65 mg/kg), respectively. THg and MeHg were positively correlated with bodyweight (THg: r2 = 0.10, P = 0.000; MeHg: r2 = 0.09, P = 0.000). Significant variations were observed among species, with the highest MeHg value (in Orthetrum triangulare) was fivefold higher than the lowest (in Pantala flavescens). These variations were consistent with those of nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values, indicating that increased δ15N, i.e., trophic levels, may reflect increased exposure and uptake of biomagnifying MeHg in dragonflies. A toxicological risk assessment found hazard quotients for specialist dragonfly-consuming birds of up to 7.2, which is 2.4 times greater than the permissible limit of 3, suggesting a potential toxicological risk of exposure.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this work was provided by the Program of Department of Science and Technology of Guizhou Province (QianKeHe [2019]2307), the National Key Research and Development Plan [2018YFC1802602], the Guizhou Provincial Department of Education (KY[2018]171), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC: 41573135). The authors thank Mingyan Tan, Lin Kong, and Tingting Shi for their help in laboratory work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Resources and Environment, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454003 , China

    Gaoen Wu & Shunlin Tang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550081, China

    Gaoen Wu, Jialiang Han, Chan Li, Lin Liu, Xiaohang Xu, Zhidong Xu & Guangle Qiu

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jialiang Han & Lin Liu

  4. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550001, China

    Chan Li & Zhuo Chen

  5. College of Food Science, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Yajie Wang

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  1. Gaoen Wu
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Wu, G., Tang, S., Han, J. et al. Distributions of Total Mercury and Methylmercury in Dragonflies from a Large, Abandoned Mercury Mining Region in China. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 81, 25–35 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-021-00854-y

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