Abstract
In this study, the suitability of Agama lizard as a biomarker in assessing environmental pollution levels of arsenium (As), barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) was investigated. Samples of top soil and agama lizards were taken from five sites within a university community in Nigeria for the study. Soil samples, livers and kidneys from the lizards were subjected to wet acid digestion and levels of heavy metals in the digested samples were determined using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). Results of the study showed that the levels of the metals ranged from Cd, 20.4 ± 2.6 μg/g to Zn, 978.6 ± 2.2 μg/g in soil; Cd, not detected to Zn, 42.2 ± 0.3 μg/g in liver; As and Ba, not detected to 47.6 ± 1.0 μg/g Zn in kidney. The inter matrices correlation coefficient values obtained for the heavy metals showed that the kidney of lizards would be more relevant in assessing soil levels of such heavy metals as As, Ba, Cd, Mn and Pb among others. Key words: Agama lizard, environmental pollution, soil, heavy metals, liver, kidney
Highlights
Interest in the environmental levels of heavy metals is a global one because of the potential hazards of these metals to the health of animals, humans and plants when they exist at elevated levels
It can be argued that all soils in urbanized areas have been polluted to varying degrees with many trace substances including heavy metals like cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenium (As), chromium (Cr), and so on (Harrison, 1996)
The detection limit is a measure of the sensitivity of the instrument (AAS) with respect to the metals
Summary
Interest in the environmental levels of heavy metals is a global one because of the potential hazards of these metals to the health of animals, humans and plants when they exist at elevated levels. Heavy metals are dangerous because they bioaccumulate (Goyer, 1991; Sawyer et al, 2006) and interfere with the biochemical processes in the living tissues (Alloway and Ayres, 1995). High levels of heavy metals in soil, water and atmosphere vis-à-vis the biota are often related to industrial activities, burning of fossil fuels, chemical dumping, application of agro-allied chemicals such as fertilizers and certain pesticides. With the increasing industrial activities, what were once pristine habitats of organisms are being encroached upon making natural populations of organisms becoming increasingly exposed to environmental pollution by heavy metals and other xenobiotics generally. It can be argued that all soils in urbanized areas have been polluted to varying degrees with many trace substances including heavy metals like cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenium (As), chromium (Cr), and so on (Harrison, 1996)
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