Abstract
Bank vole, yellow necked mouse, and common shrew, three most common and wildly distributed species of small mammals in forest ecosystems, were used as monitors to estimate heavy metal contamination of natural environment in Poland Animals were caught between 1980 and 1994 in seven national parks, two moderate and one heavily polluted forest sites and two pristine areas. Five elements (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Fe) were determined using AAS method in liver, kidneys, bones and whole bodies of animals. Heavy metal concentrations in rodents were lower than in insectivorous species. Animals from pristine areas (Bialowieza and Borecka Forest) had lower concentrations of heavy metals than animals from polluted areas. Extremely high concentrations of toxic metals were found in small mammals from Olkusz Forest. During fourteen years small mammals using as monitors showed different contamination of investigated areas. Recently they confirmed decreasing pollution trend in Poland. They also showed that still ecosystems located close to industrial sources are highly contaminated.
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