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Total mercury and methylmercury in river dolphins (Cetacea: Iniidae: Inia spp.) in the Madeira River Basin, Western Amazon

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Abstract

In the Amazon, mercury (Hg) contamination comes from ASGM operations along with soil remobilization processes associated with deforestation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) and total mercury (THg) in 88 samples of skin and blubber tissue obtained from live captured river dolphins (Inia boliviensis, Inia geoffrensis, and Inia spp.) in the Madeira River Basin. THg and MeHg measurements were performed by CV-AAS and GC-AFS, respectively. We also calculated the daily intake rate (DIR) of THg (wet weight) by Inia spp. THg levels in blubber tissue of adult river dolphins (Inia spp.) ranged from 0.015 to 3.804 mg kg−1, while MeHg concentrations in blubber tissue varied from 0.04 to 2.65 mg kg−1 and in skin tissue from 0.09 to 0.66 mg kg−1. There were no significant differences in MeHg concentration in blubber (p = 0.616) and skin (p = 0.498) tissue samples between adult males and females in the different sampling locations. The adult animals showed differences in THg and MeHg concentrations significantly higher than in the calves. The estimate of the DIR of the genus Inia ranged from 1.17 to 12.35 μg kg−1 day−1 (bw), from the consumption of fish species with herbivorous to piscivorous habits, respectively. More biological and ecological data, such as the precise determination of age, mediated length, weight, and diet of river dolphins, are necessary to verify the Hg biomagnification. However, our data indicate that bioaccumulation is an active process in the dolphins of the Madeira River Basin.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the technical staff of the National Amazon Research Institute (INPA — João Pena, Valdiney, Nildon, Américo, Jaizinho, Waldenilson, and Ediney) for their help in the captures and sample collection. Without them this study would not have been possible.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Funding

This study was funded by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Grants 552331/2011-2, 400576/2013-9, 458977/2014-4 and 301912/2017-3).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Biogeoquímica Ambiental WCP, Fundação Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Porto Velho, RO, Brazil

    Melissa S. Barbosa, Dario P. Carvalho, Marília H. Mussy, Eduardo A. Sousa, Igor B. B. Holanda, Izidro F. de Sousa-Filho & Wanderley R. Bastos

  2. Santo Antônio Energia, Porto Velho, RO, Brazil

    Dario P. Carvalho

  3. Instituto de Saúde e Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, AM, Brazil

    Waleska Gravena

  4. Laboratório de Mamíferos Aquáticos, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, AM, Brazil

    Waleska Gravena

  5. Departamento de Ciências Sociais e Ambientais, Fundação Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Porto Velho, RO, Brazil

    Ronaldo de Almeida

  6. Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Izidro F. de Sousa-Filho

Authors
  1. Melissa S. Barbosa
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  2. Dario P. Carvalho
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  3. Waleska Gravena
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  4. Ronaldo de Almeida
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  5. Marília H. Mussy
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  6. Eduardo A. Sousa
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  7. Igor B. B. Holanda
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  8. Izidro F. de Sousa-Filho
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  9. Wanderley R. Bastos
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Melissa S. Barbosa, Dario P. Carvalho, Waleska Gravena, Ronaldo de Almeida and Wanderley R. Bastos. Data curation: Melissa S. Barbosa, Dario P. Carvalho, Eduardo A. Sousa and Wanderley R. Bastos. Statistical analysis: Melissa S. Barbosa, Wanderley R. Bastos and Izidro F. de Sousa-Filho. Investigation: Melissa S. Barbosa, Dario P. Carvalho, Eduardo A. Sousa and Waleska Gravena. Chemical analysis: Melissa S. Barbosa, Ronaldo de Almeida, Marília H. Mussy and Igor B.B. Holanda. Project administration: Dario P, Carvalho and Wanderley R. Bastos. Field expedition supervision: Dario P. Carvalho, Ronaldo de Almeida and Waleska Gravena. Data interpretation: Melissa S. Barbosa, Dario P. Carvalho, Izidro F. de Sousa-Filho and Wanderley R. Bastos. Writing — review and editing: Wanderley R. Bastos, Izidro F. de Sousa-Filho, Waleska Gravena, Ronaldo de Almeida, Melissa S. Barbosa and Dario P. Carvalho.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wanderley R. Bastos.

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Ethics approval

The protocol for handling and removing small amounts of blubber and epithelial tissue samples from live animals was approved by the Committee on Ethical Use of Animals (CEUA-INPA), while collection licenses were issued by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Natural Resources/Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (IBAMA/ICMBIO — Process: no. 11325-1 and 13462-1).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Barbosa, M.S., Carvalho, D.P., Gravena, W. et al. Total mercury and methylmercury in river dolphins (Cetacea: Iniidae: Inia spp.) in the Madeira River Basin, Western Amazon. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 45121–45133 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13953-z

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