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Health status of Pelophylax ridibundus (Amphibia: Ranidae) in a rice paddy ecosystem in Southern Bulgaria and its importance in assessing environmental state: haematological parameters

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Abstract

Pollution effects on haematological parameters in Pelophylax ridibundus individuals were investigated; animals were collected from two sites in Southern Bulgaria: the Tsalapitsa rice fields (RF) and the Vacha river (reference site, RS). Blood analysis showed significant differences between the haematological parameters of RBC, WBC, Hb, packed cell volume (PCV) and frogs’ leucogram from RF and those from RS. These findings provide information on long-term background pollution of the habitat (RF) under investigation. In our view, the erythropenia, leucopenia, hypоchromia, lower values of PCV, St-neutrophilia, Sg-neutropenia, basopenia, eosinophilia, monocytosis and lymphopenia that were found in Pelophylax ridibundus individuals inhabiting the Tsalapitsa rice fields were probably caused by the pesticides and fertilizers that enter the paddy cages during the rice production process. The present study proves the practical usefulness of haematological parameters of Pelophylax ridibundus individuals in bioindication analyses for environmental assessment of agroecosystems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Biology, Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, 24 Tzar Asen Str, 4000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

    Zhivko Zhelev

  2. Abiotic Stress, AgroBioInstitute, 8 Dragan Tsankov, 1164, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Stefan Tsonev

  3. Department of Physiology, Medical University of Plovdiv, 15-A Vassil Aprilov Blvd, 4000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

    Katerina Georgieva

  4. Faculty of Biology, Department of Zoology, Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, 24 Tzar Asen Str, 4000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

    Desislava Arnaudova

Authors
  1. Zhivko Zhelev
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  2. Stefan Tsonev
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  3. Katerina Georgieva
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  4. Desislava Arnaudova
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Correspondence to Zhivko Zhelev.

Ethics declarations

According to clause number 42, clause number 41 and appendix 2 to the clause number 41 of the Bulgarian Law on Biological Diversity, capture permits for P. ridibundus are not required for the aims of scientific research. The Ethics Board for Experimental Animals at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Plovdiv approved the animal handling and the laboratory methodology. Manipulations were done in line with the ethical standards for research work with live animals, 1 day after the capture of the animals (actually less than 24 h after the catch) in laboratory conditions.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Zhelev, Z., Tsonev, S., Georgieva, K. et al. Health status of Pelophylax ridibundus (Amphibia: Ranidae) in a rice paddy ecosystem in Southern Bulgaria and its importance in assessing environmental state: haematological parameters. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 7884–7895 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-1109-5

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