Environmental exposure to non-essential trace elements in two bat species from urbanised (Tadarida teniotis) and open land (Miniopterus schreibersii) areas in Italy

Non-invasive sampling of bats reflects their potential as ecological indicators of heavy metal and trace metal contamination due to open cast diamond mining, northern Limpopo Province, South Africa

“…In our study,the median Pb concentrations in the fur of the bats from both sites were similar (control: 0.48 μg.g -1 , mine: 0.45 μg.g -1 ) (Table 4) and were comparable with median fur concentrations of M. myotis in Flache et al (2015) and Ferrante et al (2018) of 0.39 μg.g -1 and 0.24 -0.29 μg.g -1 respectively in mixed environments. Our study presents Pb concentrations much lower than skin-fur concentrations reported by Andreani et al (2019) of 36.9 ± 18.4 μg.g -1 in T. teniotis and M. schreibersii from Italy. Similarly, the maximum concentrations of Pb reported in our study of 0.936 μg.g -1 (mine) and 1.465 μg.g -1 (control) are considerably lower than that reported for N. nana foraging over wastewater treatment works of 6.187 μg.g -1 and 6.951 μg.g -1 , and from a reference site of 26.609 μg.g -1 (Hill et al 2017).…”

“…The median As fur concentrations of 0.72 μg.g -1 (mine) and 0.26 μg.g -1 (control) (Table 4) were low compared to other studies and was comparable to T. teniotis and M. schreibersii skin-fur from a polluted urban area in Italy of 0.29 ± 0.07 μg.g -1 (Andreani et al 2019), M. myotis roosting near a petrochemical plant as well as in an uncontaminated area with As fur concentrations of 0.434 μg.g -1 and 0.554 μg.g -1 respectively (Ferrante et al 2018). The concentrations of As from the fur of the molossids from the mine were comparable with concentrations reported in fur from N. nana foraging over wastewater treatment works (0.588 -2.563 μg.g -1 and 0.392 -1.974 μg.g -1 ) (Hill et al 2017).…”

“…At these concentrations, the authors suggested that the levels may not pose a health risk and could be due to background concentrations in the environment and not as a result of proximity to gold mining activities or agricultural practices (Carrasco-Rueda et al 2020). Conversely, Hg levels in the skin-fur of T. teniotis and Miniopterus schreibersii from the African Quarter of Rome (Italy) reported a low mean concentration of 0.065 ± 0.031 μg.g -1 (Andreani et al 2019). In Canada (Ontario and Quebec), Hickey et al (2001) reported high and signi cantly different concentrations of Hg in the fur of four species of bats with values that could re ect biomagni cation from aquatic prey that develop in Hg contaminated sediments into top predators (bats).…”

“…Some of the Al values for M. lucifugus fell within the range of values from the mine (43.97 -185.39 μg.g -1 ). Andreani et al (2019) reported a mean concentration of 306 ± 75 μg.g -1 in skin-fur samples of T. teniotis and M. schreibersii from a polluted area in Italy (African Quarter of Rome). This mean concentration was higher than the median recorded in our study in bat fur of 102.62 μg.g -1 from the control site but lower than the maximum concentration of 558.06 μg.g -1 reported at the same site.…”

“…Six M. condylurus from the Venetia diamond mine and four T. aegyptiaca and one M. condylurus were selected from the control area (Corea Game Farm) for the analysis (Table 2). Elements Cd, Co, Cr, Mo, Ni and Sb were below detection limits in several individual bats, thus half the detection limits provided by CAF was used in the analysis (Hickey et al 2001, Andreani et al 2019. Barium was only detectable in three out of 11 fur samples with concentrations (μg.g -1 ) of 1.07, 1.51, and 2.26.…”