Effect of body size on mercury concentrations in shoreline spiders
Hannappel, Madeline Pratt,author.
Hannappel, Madeline Pratt,author.
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2019
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Recently, shoreline spiders have been proposed as biosentinels of mercury (Hg) contamination in the environment. Shoreline spiders become contaminated with Hg by feeding on Hg-contaminated emergent aquatic insects. Although body size is known to affect Hg bioaccumulation in other organisms (e.g. fish), few studies have tested the effect of body size on Hg concentrations in shoreline spiders. In this study, we determined the effect of body size on Hg concentrations in 6 taxa of shoreline spiders (Araneidae, Tetragnatha spp., Salticidae, Pardosa spp., Rabidosa spp. and Schizocosa spp.) from 14 human-made ponds at the LBJNG, Texas. Average concentrations of total-Hg (THg) were significantly different between spider taxa. We found that concentrations of THg in spiders increased significantly with body size (measured by tibia + patella length of the first leg) for Araneidae, Tetragnatha spp., Salticidae and Pardosa spp. This study indicates that Hg accumulation in shoreline spiders differs between spider taxa and within taxa by spider size.
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1 online resource (v, 13 pages) :
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Biology