Assessment of the LeadCare® Plus for Use on Scandinavian Brown Bears (Ursus arctos)

Abstract

Lead (Pb) exposure is associated with adverse health effects in both humans and wildlife. Blood lead levels (BLL) of sentinel wildlife species can be used to monitor environmental lead exposure and ecosystem health. BLL analyzers, such as the LeadCare®, are validated for use in humans, assessed for use in some avian species and cattle, and are increasingly being used on wildlife to monitor lead exposure. The LeadCare® analyzers use a technique called anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). Species-specific conversion equations have been proposed to approximate the levels found with gold standard measuring methods such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) because the ASV method has been shown to underestimate BLL in some species. In this study we assessed the LeadCare® Plus (LCP) for use on Scandinavian brown bears (Ursus arctos). LCP measurements were correlated with ICP-MS with a Bland-Altman analyzed bias of 16.3–22.5%, showing a consistent overestimation of BLL analyzed with LCP. Based on this analysis we provide conversion equations for calculating ICP-MS BLL based on the LCP results in Scandinavian brown bears. Our study shows that the LeadCare® Plus can be used for monitoring of lead exposure by approximating gold standard levels using conversion equations. This enables comparison with other gold standard measured BLL within the observed range of this study (38.20–174.00 μg/L). Our study also found that Scandinavian brown bears are highly exposed to environmental lead.

Portable X-ray Fluorescence for Measuring Lead in the Hair of Wild Mammals

“…Brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) did show elevated lead levels in this landscape, but lead levels did not increase during the hunting season (Rogers et al, 2012). In contrast, brown bears sampled in northern Europe have shown markedly elevated lead levels in blood and milk (Boesen et al, 2019), and lead levels in the teeth of Canadian black bears increase markedly during hunting seasons (Brown et al, 2022). It is clear that further research is required into risk factors for harmful lead exposure in free ranging mammalian species (Chiverton et al, 2022).…”

“…The exception to this trend has been studies of bears (Ursus spp.) in the Northern Hemisphere (Boesen et al, 2019;Brown et al, 2023Brown et al, , 2022Fuchs et al, 2021). One recent study from the Southern Hemisphere demonstrated harmful lead levels in an Australian marsupial species, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), when fed whole shot carcasses in captivity (Hivert et al, 2018).…”

“…To our knowledge, all past studies of lead exposure in scavenging mammals have utilized invasive sampling via collection of blood (Boesen et al, 2019; Brown et al, 2023; Fuchs et al, 2021; Hivert et al, 2018; Rogers et al, 2012), teeth (Brown et al, 2022) or liver (Kelly et al, 2021). Recent reviews have highlighted the value of non-invasive sampling of heavy metal exposure in wild mammals (Jota Baptista et al, 2022).…”

European mammal exposure to lead from ammunition and fishing weight sources

“…and bears ( Ursus arctos ). Bears often dominate gut pile resources ( Rogers et al., 2012 ; Legagneux et al., 2014 ) and have been identified as highly exposed to environmental Pb ( Boesen et al., 2019 ). The relationship between mammalian exposure and scavenging is yet to be fully explored despite a direct link between toxicosis and scavenging behaviour in raptors and corvids ( Mee and Snyder, 2007 ; Legagneux et al., 2014 ; Golden et al., 2016 ; Pain et al., 2019 ).…”

Electrochemical stripping analysis

“…For example, the lead concentration in blood can be determined on-site using commercially available portable ASV-based analysers 134 . This enables a lead exposure assessment of children 135 , lead miners and smelters 133 and wild animals 136,137 . New ASV procedures continue to be developed and applied for determination of copper, lead, cadmium or zinc using new sensors, configurations and procedures 19,39,40,57,[138][139][140] .…”