A brief report on the bioaccumulation of small terrestrial mammals: a suggestion for a new line of research in Brazil

Abstract

Small mammals are potential elements to evaluate mining impacts because they occupy key positions in food webs and can be sampled using relatively inexpensive, easy and quick methods. They have been used as environmental indicators for various purposes, such as ecological succession gradients and pollution, among others. However, little is mentioned about bioaccumulation in South America. Our objective is to present data from a heavy metal accumulation test using the Brazilian gracile opossum Gracilinanus microtarsus (J. A. Wagner, 1842) as an experimental model. We concluded that the contents of heavy metals found in the animals’ tissues showed differences when compared to other individuals of the same species from an area without the influence of heavy metals. As a result, we encourage the scientific community to carry out more studies in this little mentioned line in the literature in South America and incipient in Brazil.