Soil pollution by heavy metals correlates with levels of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites of a fossorial amphisbaenian reptile. Issue 1 (16th November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Martín, José; Barja, Isabel; Rodríguez-Ruiz, Gonzalo; Recio, Pablo; García, Luis V
• Editors: Fuller, Andrea
• Is Part Of: Conservation physiology. Volume 9:Issue 1(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-11-16
• Subjects: soil pollution -- reptiles -- heavy metals -- fossorial -- faecal corticosterone metabolites -- Amphisbaenian; Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Periodicals; Conservation biology -- Periodicals; 577.05
• DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coab085
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2051-1434

Abstract

Abstract : Soil pollution by heavy metals may negatively affect the health of animals living inside these soils. This study shows that populations of a fossorial burrowing reptile inhabiting more polluted habitats and soils more difficult to dig have higher levels of faecal corticosterone metabolite, likely reflecting higher physiological stress levels. Abstract: Soil degradation may have strong negative consequences for soil biodiversity, but these potential effects are understudied and poorly understood. Concentration of nesting seabirds may be a source of soil pollution by heavy metals, which are incorporated into the food chain and may have toxicological effects in vertebrates, especially in fossorial animals with low dispersal ability. We examined whether contamination by heavy metals, derived from seagull depositions, and other soil characteristics, may affect the levels of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (as a potential indicator of physiological stress) of the fossorial amphisbaenian reptile Trogonophis wiegmanni . We found a relationship between soil pollution by heavy metals and increased levels of faecal corticosterone metabolite of the amphisbaenians that live buried in those soils. This can be due to the strong endocrine disruption effect of heavy metals. In addition, there was an independent effect of the soil texture, with amphisbaenians showing higher levels of faecal corticosterone metabolite in soils with less sand and more silt and clay, which are more energetically costly to dig. Long-term exposure to high glucocorticoid levels might have serious effects on health state and fitness of fossorial animals that may be unnoticed. Our study emphasizes that, to prevent future conservation problems, we need to perform periodic surveys on the physiological health state of the little-known subterranean biodiversity.