ArticlePloS one2015
Biomonitoring Heavy Metal Pollution Using an Aquatic Apex Predator, the American Alligator, and Its Parasites.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Survey of DNA Damage in American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in Florida.Environmental and molecular mutagenesis · 2026Article
- Marine Parasites as Bioindicators for Toxins and Their Potential Role as Environmental Sinks for Marine Fauna.Journal of parasitology research · 2026Article
- Biomonitoring of heavy metals using Contracaecum quadripapillatum (Nematoda) in comparison to its fish host, Lates niloticus, from the Nile River, Egypt.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2023Article
- Energy dispersive X-Ray microanalysis in conjunction with scanning electron micrography to establish nematodes as bioindicators in marine fish environment.Journal of parasitic diseases : official organ of the Indian Society for Parasitology · 2022Article
- Metal accumulation in ecto- and endoparasites from the anadromous fish, the Pontic shad (Parasitology · 2021Article
- Trophic transfer and toxicity of heavy metals from dengue mosquito Aedes aegypti to predator dragonfly Tramea cophysa.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2021Article
- Freshwater aquatic reptiles (Testudines and Crocodylia) as biomonitor models in assessing environmental contamination by inorganic elements and the main analytical techniques used: a review.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2021Review
- Metallic elements in aquatic herpetofauna (Crocodylia; Testudines) from a lentic Atlantic rainforest environment in northeastern Brazil.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2021Article
- Biomonitoring of Heavy Metal Pollution Using Acanthocephalans Parasite in Ecosystem: An Updated Overview.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2020Review
- Article
- Towards a more healthy conservation paradigm: integrating disease and molecular ecology to aid biological conservationJournal of genetics · 2020Review
- Permeability of hair to cadmium, copper and lead in five species of terrestrial mammals and implications in biomonitoring.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2017Article
- Parasites and pollution: the effectiveness of tiny organisms in assessing the quality of aquatic ecosystems, with a focus on Africa.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2017Article
- Parasite responses to pollution: what we know and where we go in 'Environmental Parasitology'.Parasites & vectors · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Monitoring the bioaccumulation of chemical elements within various organismal tissues has become a useful tool to survey current or chronic levels of heavy metal exposure within an environment. In this study, we compared the bioaccumulations of As, Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, Se, and Zn between the American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, and its parasites in order to establish their use as bioindicators of heavy metal pollution. Concomitant with these results, we were interested to determine if parasites were more sensitive bioindicators of heavy metals relative to alligators. We found parasites collectively accumulated higher levels of As, Cu, Se, and Zn in comparison to their alligator hosts, whereas Fe, Cd, and Pb concentrations were higher in alligators. Interestingly, Fe levels were significantly greater in intestinal trematodes than their alligator hosts when analyzed independently from other parasitic taxa. Further analyses showed alligator intestinal trematodes concentrated As, Cu, Fe, Se, and Zn at significantly higher levels than intestinal nematodes and parasites from other organs. However, pentastomids also employed the role as a good biomagnifier of As. Interestingly, parasitic abundance decreased as levels of As increased. Stomach and intestinal nematodes were the poorest bioaccumulators of metals, yet stomach nematodes showed their ability to concentrate Pb at orders of magnitude higher in comparison to other parasites. Conclusively, we suggest that parasites, particularly intestinal trematodes, are superior biomagnifiers of As, Cu, Se, and Zn, whereas alligators are likely good biological indicators of Fe, Cd, and Pb levels within the environment.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.