Supplementary information from: A systematic review of trace elements in the tissues of bats (Chiroptera)

Bats constitute about 22% of known mammal species; they have various ecological roles and provide many ecosystem services. Bats suffer from several threats caused by anthropization, including exposure to toxic metals and metalloids. In our systematic review, we analyzed 75 papers to investigate how species, diet, and tissue type impact bioaccumulation in bat species all over the world. Most studies documented element accumulation in fur, liver, and kidney; at least 36 metals and metalloids have been measured in bat tissues, among the most studied were mercury and zinc. Comparisons with known toxicological thresholds for other mammals showed concerning values for mercury and zinc in bat hair, lead and some essential metals in liver, and iron and calcium in kidneys. Moreover, accumulation patterns in tissues differed depending on bat diet: insectivorous bats showed higher metal concentrations in fur than in liver and kidney while frugivorous species showed higher values in liver and kidne..., The literature search was performed using Google Scholar and Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate) during the period of 1978 to 2021, using keywords/Boolean operators: “bats” and/or “metal” and/or “contamination” and/or “fur” (title). A total of 75 publications from the 1978-2021 period were located and included in this review, including peer-reviewed papers and unpublished reports. Metadata collected from 67 scientific papers (reviews excluded) included: species, sample size, tissue, geographic location, age, sex, diet type, and trace element content. Element concentrations in bat tissues were converted from a wet weight to a dry weight by multiplying the wet weight value by a factor of 3.7 for liver, 3.9 for kidney, and 4.0 for fur and all the other analyzed tissues; these factors were calculated according to the moisture content of the specific organ. No such conversion was made when dry weights were provided. Data analysis included: metals (Ag, Al, Ba, Be, Ca, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, F..., , # Supplementary Information: A systematic review of trace elements in the tissues of bats (Chiroptera)

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sxksn03bb](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sxksn03bb)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset was born as an Appendix to our manuscript \"A systematic review of trace elements in the tissues of bats (Chiroptera)\". In our systematic review, we analyzed 75 papers to investigate how species, diet, and tissue type impact bioaccumulation in bat species all over the world.

The present dataset contains the following information: a taxonomic table with all the bats families and genera investigated (A.1), reference tables comprehensive of sample sizes, concentration values ±SD, and meaning of values for each trace element in each tissue (A.2 to A.16) and in each species (A.17 to A.20) investigated, a table with all the bat species considered organized by their diet preference (A.21), visual data on concentrations in bat tissues/species not show...