Caged Gammarus as biomonitors identifying thresholds of toxic metal bioavailability that affect gammarid densities at the French national scale.

Bioaccumulated concentrations of toxic elements in biomonitor invertebrate species have already been used to successfully link metal bioavailability and impairments of stream macroinvertebrate communities at the scale of the watershed. However, implementing this empirical comparative approach at a greater spatial scale remains a challenge due to the diversity of biogeographical contexts encompassed by regional and national scales. We showed in previous studies that the use of standard organisms caged permits the use of a common biomonitor over a far greater geographical range, while limiting the influence of confounding factors on levels of bioavailable contamination.

Prioritisation of wildlife pathogens to be targeted in European surveillance programmes: Expert-based risk analysis focus on ruminants.

This study attempted to develop a list of priority pathogens. It is part of a European Union (EU) project dedicated to the surveillance of emerging or re-emerging pathogens of wildlife. Partners of the consortium established an initial list of 138 pathogens of concern, which was reduced to a smaller list of 65 pathogens likely to affect ruminants (i.

Experimental exposure of juvenile savannah monitors (Varanus exanthematicus) to an environmentally relevant mixture of three contaminants: effects and accumulation in tissues.

Using varanids as indicators of pollution in African continental wetlands was previously proposed. The present study aimed at understanding experimentally how monitors absorb and accumulate pollutants and how they are affected. The relevance of non-destructive sampling was also evaluated.

Assessing environmental contamination around obsolete pesticide stockpiles in West Africa: using the Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) as a sentinel species.

Environmental contamination caused by obsolete pesticide stocks was assessed using the Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) as a sentinel species. Organochlorines and organophosphates were quantified by gas chromatography in abdominal fat and the liver, respectively. Results were compared to those obtained from three other sites, characterized by different histories of contamination.

The Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus; Squamata: Varanidae) as a sentinel species for lead and cadmium contamination in sub-Saharan wetlands.

Wetland pollution is a matter of concern in sub-Saharan Africa. Though regularly exploited, the Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus), a large amphibious lizard, is not threatened. This work aims at assessing the value of this varanid as a sentinel species in surveys of environmental contamination by metals.