Lead concentrations and lead and strontium stable-isotope ratios in teeth of European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Abstract

The study reports lead concentrations and lead and strontium stable-isotope ratios in mandibular molars of roe deer from three different areas in western Germany. Lead concentrations in third molars ranged between 0.23 and 36.61 µg/g (dry weight). Comparing lead concentrations in first molars and third molars in a group of ca. 1.5-or ca. 2.5-year-old individuals from the same area revealed an effect of tooth age on tooth lead content. The higher lead concentrations in the first molars were attributed to the longer period of lead accumulation by the dentin of these teeth compared with the later-forming third molars. Differences in lead isotopic signatures of the teeth were observed between the three areas, presumably reflecting variation in exposure to different sources of environmental lead. We also found marked variation in the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope ratios of the teeth, with only a small overlap in values between two of the areas. Strontium isotope analysis alone or in combination with lead isotope analyses can be a useful means of assessing the provenance of deer teeth of unknown geographical origin.

Bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr in different environmental samples — Effects of anthropogenic contamination and implications for isoscapes in past migration studies

“…It is the purpose, here, to shed light on what materials would be best to use in this regard, given that there is no consensus at all in the current literature in this regard. (Kierdorf et al, 2008), as some deer have relatively small roaming ranges of less than 70-80 ha . Chemical compositions of deer teeth have also been used to monitor environmental pollution Richter et al, 2011).…”

Teeth as Indicators of Environmental Pollution with Lead

“…Other studies have analyzed nonhuman teeth to assess lead exposure and demonstrated that the animal species teeth are well suited as a bio-indicator for assessing lead contamination of the environment [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

Effects of operating conditions and matrix on mass bias in MC-ICPMS

“…Interest in precise isotope ratios is constantly increasing and spreading from its traditional applications in geochemistry (e.g. dating 1,2 ) and archaeology 3,4 to other areas including provenance studies 5 and isotope tracing in nutritional surveys [6][7][8] and in clinical trials. The sensitivity, acquisition speed, high sample throughput and pseudo-high resolution capability of multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers (MC-ICPMS) have caused the number of publications to leap since the millennium.…”