Historical patterns in mercury exposure for North American songbirds
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Historical patterns in mercury exposure for North American songbirds Marie Perkins 1 Oksana P. Lane2 David C. Evers2 Amy Sauer2 Evan M. Adams2 Nelson J. O’Driscoll3 Samuel T. Edmunds4 Allyson K. Jackson5 Julie C. Hagelin6 Jeremiah Trimble7 Elsie M. Sunderland1 ●
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Accepted: 9 May 2019 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Methylmercury (MeHg) is a global environmental contaminant that poses significant risks to the health of humans, wildlife, and ecosystems. Assessing MeHg exposure in biota across the landscape and over time is vital for monitoring MeHg pollution and gauging the effectiveness of regulations intended to reduce new mercury (Hg) releases. We used MeHg concentrations measured in museum specimen feathers (collected between 1869 and 2014) and total Hg concentrations (as a proxy for MeHg) of feathers sampled from wild birds (collected between 2008 and 2017) to investigate temporal patterns in exposure over approximately 150 years for North American songbirds. For individual species, we found greater concentrations for samples collected post-2000 compared to those collected during historic times (pre-1900) for six of seven songbird species. Mean feather concentrations measured in samples collected post2000 ranged between 1.9 and 17 times (mean 6.6) greater than historic specimens. The proportion of individual songbirds with feather concentrations that exceeded modeled toxicity benchmarks increased in samples collected after 1940. Only 2% of individual songbirds collected prior to 1940 had feather concentrations greater than 2.4 μg/g (a toxicity benchmark related to a 10% decrease in nest success) compared to 35% of individuals collected post-1940. Many species included in this study have a vulnerable or near-threatened conservation status, suggesting recovery actions are needed to address mercury pollution. Keywords Mercury Temporal trend Feathers Songbirds Museum specimens ●
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Introduction Supplementary information The online version of this article (https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10646-019-02054-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Marie Perkins [email protected] 1
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
2
Biodiversity Research Institute, Portland, ME 04103, USA
3
K. C. Irving Environmental Science Centre, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6, Canada
4
TRC, Augusta, ME 04330, USA
5
Department of Environmental Studies, Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, NY 10577, USA
6
Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Threatened, Endangered and Diversity Program, Fairbanks, AK 99701, USA
7
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Methylmercury (MeHg) is a deleterious environmental contaminant produced from inorganic mercury (Hg) in aquatic environments (Gilmour et al. 2013). Human activities have subst
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