Well... actually not exactly this Heavy Metal.
In a collaborative paper led by prof. Marcelo A. A. Pinheiro, we evaluated the genetic diversity of mangrove crab populations from areas with distinct heavy metals (cadmium, lead, copper, chromium and mercury) levels.
We observed that the genetic diversity measures were not different among populations, regardless the metal amounts quantified in each locality. On the other hand, crabs from the locality with higher heavy metals quantities were more similar genetically to each other than those from other areas, creating a relatively separated genetic group. We were not expecting this result because previous papers showed that populations across thousands of kilometers were genetically homogeneous in the Brazilian coast. Do you want to know more? Check it out here!
Write a comment