Relationship between lanthanide contents in aquatic turtles and environmental exposures

Trace elements released in the environment during agricultural practices can be incorporated and accumulated in biological fluids and tissues of living organisms. The assessment of these exposures were carried out investigating lanthanide distributions in blood and exoskeleton samples collected from Emys trinacris turtle specimens coming from sites with anthropogenic discharge in western and south Sicily, along migration paths of many bird species from Africa to Europe. The data show a significant (Rxy = 0.72; Rxy > 0.67; α = 0.025) linear relationship between the size of turtle specimens and the lanthanide contents in blood lower than 0.4 μg L−1 whereas this relationship disappears in blood with higher lanthanide contents. Comparative evaluations of normalised concentrations show that lanthanides fractionate between blood and exoskeleton inducing antithetical lanthanide patterns therein. These features are more evident in specimens with high lanthanide contents in blood, suggesting that lanthanide accumulations in the exoskeleton can represent the physiological response of E. trinacris to environmental and the further confirmation of relationship occurring between the environmental and the biological fluids.

► Lanthanide contents in water influence the size of Emys trinacris specimens. ► Site contaminations affect lanthanide partitioning in E. trinacris esoskeleton. ► Lanthanides in blood of E. trinacris are sensitive to the environment composition.