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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1430662
This article is part of the Research Topic Effects and Challenges of Ecological Protection and Restoration Strategies on Elemental Cycles View all 5 articles

Quantifying the potential health risk of surface waters in Qinling giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis) habitat

Provisionally accepted
Yingjuan Zheng Yingjuan Zheng 1*Yi-Ping Chen Yi-Ping Chen 2Yan Zhao Yan Zhao 2Lorraine Maltby Lorraine Maltby 3Wan-gang Liu Wan-gang Liu 2
  • 1 Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, China
  • 2 Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China
  • 3 School of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is recognized worldwide as an icon for wildlife conservation. The Qinling subspecies (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis) inhabiting the Qinling Mountains is more endangered. Previous studies have indicated that Qinling pandas are potentially at risk from environmental pollutants, which they are exposed to via food and drinking water. However, there is little information on the surface water quality in Qinling Mountain and it is unknown whether drinking water is an important pollutant source for pandas. Water samples were collected from five different nature reserves in Qingling, each of which is home to a population of pandas. Samples were analyzed for five essential metals of copper (Cu), zinc(Zn), manganese (Mn), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni) and four non-essential metals of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg). Concentrations of all heavy metals (HMs) were higher in buffer zones than in the core areas and were highest in Foping and Niuweihe nature reserves. Concentrations of mercury exceeded the water quality standard in core zone of three reserves, suggesting that NWH (Niuweihe), THS (Tianhuashan) and PHL (Pingheliang) giant panda populations were at risk from mercury toxicity. The accumulation of other elements over time could also pose a serious risk to pandas. Three main sources of pollution were identified: coal combustion, waste incineration and fertilizer use; traffic-related activities and metal mining. Environmental pollution is compromising efforts to conserve the giant panda and measures need to be put in place to control pollution sources.

    Keywords: giant panda, Habitat conservation, heavy metal, Water Resource, Risk Assessment

    Received: 10 May 2024; Accepted: 08 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zheng, Chen, Zhao, Maltby and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yingjuan Zheng, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.