Atmospheric deposition exposes Qinling pandas to toxic pollutants.

Yi‐Ping Chen,Qiang Liu,Zhi‐Sheng An,Yi Song,Qing‐Yi Ma,Ying‐Juan Zheng,Aaron M Ellison

doi:10.1002/eap.1494

Abstract

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most endangered animals in the world, and it is recognized worldwide as a symbol for conservation. A previous study showed that wild and captive pandas, especially those of the Qinling subspecies, were exposed to toxicants in their diet of bamboo; the ultimate origin of these toxicants is unknown. Here we show that atmospheric deposition is the most likely origin of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the diets of captive and wild Qinling pandas. Average atmospheric deposition was 199, 115, and 49g·m-2 ·yr-1 in the center of Xi'an City, at China's Shaanxi Wild Animal Research Center (SWARC), and at Foping National Nature Reserve (FNNR), respectively. Atmospheric deposition of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, Co, Cu, Zn, Mn, and Ni) and POPs was highest at Xi'an City, intermediate at SWARC, and lowest at FNNR. Soil concentrations of the aforementioned heavy metals other than As and Zn also were significantly higher at SWARC than at FNNR. Efforts to conserve Qinling pandas may be compromised by air pollution attendant to China's economic development. Improvement of air quality and reductions of toxic emissions are urgently required to protect China's iconic species.

Highlights

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most endangered animals in the world, and it is recognized worldwide as a symbol for conservation
Atmospheric deposition samples were collected from November 8, 2013 to November 8, at the Foping National Nature Reserve (FNNR: Qinling Mountain, 33° 33 ́ – 33° 46 ́ N, 107° 40 ́ – 107° 55 ́E), Shaanxi Wild Animal Research Center (SWARC: Louguantai, Zhouzhi County, Xi’an city, 34° 06 ́ N, 108° 32 ́ E), and Xi’an City (34° 23 ́ N, 108° 89 ́ E)
Deposition rates of all assayed heavy metals were significantly lower at FNNR than at SWARC (Fig. 1), and all but As were significant lower at SWARC than at Xi’an

Summary

Introduction

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most endangered animals in the world, and it is recognized worldwide as a symbol for conservation. The other strategy has been to establish natural conservation zones that preserve panda habitat: 50 conservation zones, with a total area > 20,000 km, have been delimited (Zhang and Wei 2006) In these conservation zones, efforts are ongoing to reduce habitat destruction, logging, resource exploitation, and tourism, all of which threaten wild panda populations. Efforts are ongoing to reduce habitat destruction, logging, resource exploitation, and tourism, all of which threaten wild panda populations This trade-off of environmental quality for economic development was common in the developed nations (Seinfeld 2004), and in China has had predictable effects of particulate pollution influencing air quality, regional and global climates, and human health (Cao et al.2012, Wang et al 2014).

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Conclusion