Bald eagle mercury exposure varies with region and site elevation in New York, USA
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Bald eagle mercury exposure varies with region and site elevation in New York, USA C. R. DeSorbo D. C. Evers1
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N. M. Burgess
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P. E. Nye3,5 J. J. Loukmas3 H. A. Brant4 M. E. H. Burton1 C. P. Persico1 ●
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Accepted: 9 December 2019 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Freshwater fish in several regions of New York State (NYS) are known to contain concentrations of mercury (Hg) associated with negative health effects in wildlife and humans. We collected blood and breast feathers from bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nestlings throughout NYS, with an emphasis on the Catskill region to determine their exposure to Hg. We assessed whether habitat type (lake or river), region (Delaware–Catskill region vs. rest of NY) or sample site elevation influenced Hg concentrations in bald eagle breast feathers using ANCOVA. The model was significant and accounted for 41% of the variability in log10 breast feather Hg concentrations. Mercury concentrations in nestling breast feathers were significantly greater in the Delaware–Catskill Region (geometric mean: 14.5 µg/g dw) than in the rest of NY (7.4 µg/g, dw), and greater at nests located at higher elevations. Habitat type (river vs. lake) did not have a significant influence on breast feather Hg concentrations. Geometric mean blood Hg concentrations were significantly greater in Catskill nestlings (0.78 µg/ g ww) than in those from the rest of NY (0.32 µg/g). Mercury concentrations in nestling breast feathers and especially blood samples from the Delaware–Catskill region were generally greater than those reported for most populations sampled elsewhere, including areas associated with significant Hg pollution problems. Bald eagles can serve as valuable Hg bioindicators in aquatic ecosystems of NYS, particularly given their broad statewide distribution and their tendency to nest across all major watersheds and different habitat types. Keywords Mercury Hg Haliaeetus leucocephalus Elevation Catskill ●
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Introduction Mercury (Hg) pollution is broadly present in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems throughout the globe. While a portion of Hg pollution enters ecosystems from natural sources (e.g., volcano emissions, natural Hg deposits) or direct inputs (e.g., chlor-alkali facilities and landfills), the majority originates from anthropogenic sources of air pollution (i.e.,
Supplementary information The online version of this article (https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10646-019-02153-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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coal-fired power plants, gold mining, incinerators) (Fitzgerald et al. 1998; Driscoll et al. 2013; Pacyna et al. 2016; Kocman et al. 2017; Streets et al. 2017). Once deposited, sulfur-reducing bacteria and other microbes covert inorganic Hg to its toxic organic form, methylmercury (MeHg) (Gilmour et al. 2013), which readily accumulates in consumers and biomagnifies in both aquatic and terrestrial foodwebs (Atwell et al. 1998; Henny et al. 2003; Cri
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