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The Arsenic–Antimony Creek at Sauerbrunn/Burgenland, Austria: A Toxic Habitat for Amphibians

(1) Background: All Austrian amphibians are affected by the degradation of habitats. Mining contributes to habitat destruction by the formation of spoil heaps and mine drainage waters. In Stadtschlaining/Burgenland, antimony mining led to increased arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) concentrations in so...

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Autores principales: Adlassnig, Wolfram, Schmidt, Brigitte, Jirsa, Franz, Gradwohl, Andreas, Ivesic, Caroline, Koller-Peroutka, Marianne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9141369/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35627546
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106010
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author Adlassnig, Wolfram
Schmidt, Brigitte
Jirsa, Franz
Gradwohl, Andreas
Ivesic, Caroline
Koller-Peroutka, Marianne
author_facet Adlassnig, Wolfram
Schmidt, Brigitte
Jirsa, Franz
Gradwohl, Andreas
Ivesic, Caroline
Koller-Peroutka, Marianne
author_sort Adlassnig, Wolfram
collection PubMed
description (1) Background: All Austrian amphibians are affected by the degradation of habitats. Mining contributes to habitat destruction by the formation of spoil heaps and mine drainage waters. In Stadtschlaining/Burgenland, antimony mining led to increased arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) concentrations in soil and water. This study investigates a contaminated creek, still inhabited by amphibians. (2) Methods: Water and soil were analyzed along the creek and correlated with the occurrence of amphibians. (3) Results: As and Sb were increased, with up to 49,000 mg/kg As and 2446 mg/kg Sb in the soil. Up to 317 mg/kg As and 156 mg/kg Sb became bioavailable under gastric, and up to 298 mg/kg As and 30 mg/kg Sb under intestinal conditions, and were absorbed upon ingestion of soil. Larvae of Salamandra salamandra were found throughout the creek; survival rates were low. Rana temporaria occurs in the most contaminated sections but does not propagate here. Bombina variegata appears occasionally. Amphibians seem not to be able to detect and avoid metal or metalloid contamination. (4) Conclusion: Survival of larvae is dubious, but adult amphibians survive without apparent damage under severe metalloid contamination.
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spelling pubmed-91413692022-05-28 The Arsenic–Antimony Creek at Sauerbrunn/Burgenland, Austria: A Toxic Habitat for Amphibians Adlassnig, Wolfram Schmidt, Brigitte Jirsa, Franz Gradwohl, Andreas Ivesic, Caroline Koller-Peroutka, Marianne Int J Environ Res Public Health Article (1) Background: All Austrian amphibians are affected by the degradation of habitats. Mining contributes to habitat destruction by the formation of spoil heaps and mine drainage waters. In Stadtschlaining/Burgenland, antimony mining led to increased arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb) concentrations in soil and water. This study investigates a contaminated creek, still inhabited by amphibians. (2) Methods: Water and soil were analyzed along the creek and correlated with the occurrence of amphibians. (3) Results: As and Sb were increased, with up to 49,000 mg/kg As and 2446 mg/kg Sb in the soil. Up to 317 mg/kg As and 156 mg/kg Sb became bioavailable under gastric, and up to 298 mg/kg As and 30 mg/kg Sb under intestinal conditions, and were absorbed upon ingestion of soil. Larvae of Salamandra salamandra were found throughout the creek; survival rates were low. Rana temporaria occurs in the most contaminated sections but does not propagate here. Bombina variegata appears occasionally. Amphibians seem not to be able to detect and avoid metal or metalloid contamination. (4) Conclusion: Survival of larvae is dubious, but adult amphibians survive without apparent damage under severe metalloid contamination. MDPI 2022-05-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9141369/ /pubmed/35627546 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106010 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Adlassnig, Wolfram
Schmidt, Brigitte
Jirsa, Franz
Gradwohl, Andreas
Ivesic, Caroline
Koller-Peroutka, Marianne
The Arsenic–Antimony Creek at Sauerbrunn/Burgenland, Austria: A Toxic Habitat for Amphibians
title The Arsenic–Antimony Creek at Sauerbrunn/Burgenland, Austria: A Toxic Habitat for Amphibians
title_full The Arsenic–Antimony Creek at Sauerbrunn/Burgenland, Austria: A Toxic Habitat for Amphibians
title_fullStr The Arsenic–Antimony Creek at Sauerbrunn/Burgenland, Austria: A Toxic Habitat for Amphibians
title_full_unstemmed The Arsenic–Antimony Creek at Sauerbrunn/Burgenland, Austria: A Toxic Habitat for Amphibians
title_short The Arsenic–Antimony Creek at Sauerbrunn/Burgenland, Austria: A Toxic Habitat for Amphibians
title_sort arsenic–antimony creek at sauerbrunn/burgenland, austria: a toxic habitat for amphibians
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9141369/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35627546
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106010
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