The Accumulation and Effects of Environmental Contaminants on Snakes: A Review
- 1 January 2001
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
- Vol. 70 (3), 253-301
- https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1010731409732
Abstract
In any ecological risk assessment, afull complement of the relevant members of theecosystems being studied should be considered. Reptiles in general, and snakes in particular, areimportant although often neglected components ofterrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and should beincluded in any study on environmental contamination. By neglecting reptiles, the risks posed by aparticular contaminant cannot be fully assessed. Since all snakes are secondary, tertiary, and toppredators, they are susceptible to the bioaccumulationof environmental contaminants. Their unique lifehistories make their roles in food webs diverse andimportant, and they are crucial to the properfunctioning of many ecological processes. We reviewand summarize organic and inorganic contaminant andradionuclide/radiation residue and lethal andsublethal effects data for snakes to stress theimportance of snakes and encourage their inclusion inecological risk assessments, to demonstrate thepaucity of available contaminant data on snakes andreveal the main information gaps, to encourage furtherecotoxicological studies on snakes, and to facilitatethe use of existing snake contaminant data inecological risk assessments. This review is the mostcomprehensive review currently available on theeffects on and accumulation of environmentalcontaminants in snakes.Keywords
This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
- Lizard Contaminant Data for Ecological Risk AssessmentReviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 2000
- Trace element levels in pine snake hatchlings: Tissue and temporal differencesArchives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1992
- Lead in the scales of cobras and wall lizards from rural and urban areas of Punjab, IndiaScience of The Total Environment, 1988
- Organochlorine residues in animals from three Louisiana watersheds in 1978 and 1979Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1985
- Metals in riparian wildlife of the lead mining district of southeastern MissouriArchives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1985
- Vanadium and nickel content of Nowruz spill tar flakes on the Saudi Arabian coastline and their probable environmental impactBulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1984
- Presence and biomagnification of organochlorine chemical residues in oxbow lakes of Northeastern LouisianaArchives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1984
- Carcinogenic activity of N-nitrosodiethylamine in snakesThe Science of Nature, 1983
- Organochlorine and mercury residues in snakes from Pilot and Spider Islands, Lake Michigan—1978Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1980
- Some Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Wildlife of the Northern Territory, Australia, 1970-71Australian Journal of Biological Sciences, 1973