Accumulation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in wildlife rats tissues inhabiting landfills

Ecology Department, Faculty of Science, University of Kufa, Kufa, Iraq

^* Corresponding author: mohammedj.alhayderi@uokufa.edu.iq

Abstract

Landfills continue to be one of the most often used waste management techniques in the world. Landfilling is the most ancient and cost-effective method for handling waste. The main question of this work is how can this activity affected wildlife mammals, so this paper comes to identify the accumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in liver, kidneys, abdominal tissue, and blood of wildlife Rats Inhabiting Landfills. To attempt this goal, eleven wildlife rats were collected from four sites (were selected near the waste dumps in Al-Najaf province –Iraq) by using mechanical traps. The results showed that the highest accumulation of PAHs was in the kidney (8.238 ± 2.791 mg/kg) at site four, and the lowest was at site three (7.417 ± 2.051 mg/kg); in liver the highest concentration was at the site three (4.085 ± 1.061 mg/kg) and the lowest was at site two (3.112 ± 1.341 mg/kg); in abdominal tissue the highest concentration was at the site one (4.947 ± 2.399 mg/kg) and the lowest was at site four (3.090 ± 1.807 mg/kg); and the highest concentration of PAHs in blood was at site one (2.680 ± 1.424 mg/kg) and the lowest was at site two (0.502 ± 0.292 mg/kg). This study suggested that the PAHs that accumulated in all studied tissues were very high and these concentrations could be harm to wildlife organisms.