Temporal kinetics of fluoride accumulation: from fetal to adult deer
Flueck, Werner ; Smith-Flueck, Jo
In: European Journal of Wildlife Research, 2013, vol. 59, no. 6, p. 899-903
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- In June 2011, a volcano deposited about 100 million tons of tephra over parts of Chile and over 36 million ha of Argentina. Initially, fluoride was considered irrelevant; however, recently wild deer exhibited strong fluorosis, with fluoride level increasing 38-fold among severely affected deer. Whereas mothers averaged 2,151ppm, their late-term fetuses had only 19.8ppm, indicating a barrier to fluoride transport in utero. Levels among four age classes increased significantly, at a rate of about 1,000ppm/year. The temporal kinetics of accumulation suggests that sources of available fluoride are highly effective. Thus, compared to prior background levels (63ppm in adults) and to fetuses starting at about 20ppm, 1-year-old calves averaged 1,035ppm (maximum 1,830ppm), 2-year olds averaged 2,151ppm (maximum 2,513ppm), and older deer averaged 2,806ppm (maximum 5,175ppm). As osteofluorosis occurs in deer with >4,000ppm, accumulation of 1,000ppm/year would result in adults reaching levels causing osteopathology in 1-2years. Importantly, impacts may be further exacerbated by regional iodine and selenium deficiencies. Iodine deficiency may increase incidences of dental fluorosis and severity of damages, while selenium deficiency impacts iodine metabolism. Fluorosis will affect population dynamics, morbidity, predation susceptibility, and other ecosystem components like scavenger and plant communities