Comparison of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury and selenium in feathers in bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and comparison with common eider (Somateria mollissima), glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba), and tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) from the Aleutian Chain of Alaska

Abstract

Comparison of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury and selenium in feathers in bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and comparison with common eider (Somateria mollissima), glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba), and tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) from the Aleutian Chain of Alaska AbstractThere is an abundance of field data for levels of metals from a range of places, but relatively few from the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. In this paper we examine the levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury and selenium in feathers from common eiders (Somateria mollissima), glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens), pigeon guillemots (Cepphus columba), tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) and bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) from the Aleutian Chain of Alaska. Our primary objective was to test the hypothesis that there are no trophic levels relationships for arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury and selenium among these five species of birds breeding in the marine environment of the Aleutians. There were significant interspecific differences in all metal levels. As predicted bald eagles had the highest levels of arsenic, chromium, lead, and manganese, but puffins had the highest levels of selenium, and pigeon guillemot had higher levels of mercury than eagles (although the differences were not significant). Common eiders, at the lowest trophic level had the lowest levels of some metals (chromium, mercury and selenium). However, eiders had higher levels than all other species (except eagles) for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and manganese. Levels of lead were higher in breast than in wing feathers of bald eagles. Except for lead, there were no significant differences in metal levels in feathers of bald eagles nesting on Adak and Amchitka Island; lead was higher on Adak than Amchitka. Eagle chicks tended to have lower levels of manganese than older eagles.

Lead, Mercury, Selenium, and Other Trace Elements in Tissues of Golden Eagles From Southwestern Montana, Usa

“…We avoided use of category names based on clinical veterinary experiences because we sampled free-flying Golden Eagles that were not injured and/or overtly expressing signs of lead poisoning, but retained ascending exposure level concentration ranges comparable to those found in other studies (Kramer and Redig, 1997;Stauber et al, 2010). Exposure levels for other trace elements in blood that potentially may affect health and reproduction have been established for some mammal and bird species (e.g., Burgess et al, 2005;Burger and Gochfeld, 2009) but not Golden Eagles.…”

Trace metal concentrations in tissues of two tinamou species in mining areas of Bolivia and their potential as environmental sentinels

“…Although this situation depends on each element's effect, it also depends on the bird species itself and intrinsic factors such as age, sex, physiology, etc., making it difficult to predict possible effects. Laboratory studies are necessary to identify the metal levels that may result in death or adverse impacts on behavior, physiology (Burger and Gochfeld 2009), which means that the comparison of our results with other bird species' reported values, with the background or poisoning threshold values proposed by several authors, is only a rough guide because of the lack of specific information for tinamous. In the following paragraphs, trace metal concentrations reported in tissues by the literature as wet weight (w-w) concentrations are multiplied by a factor of 3 to correspond to dry weight (d-w) concentrations (Clark and Scheuhammer 2003).…”

“…N = 37 for feather and N = 41 for liver and kidney nature, with the highest values at the top of the trophic web. Feather values for As reported for several bird species were between 604 to 13 ppb d-w (Burger and Gochfeld 2009;Burger et al 2008;LounsburyBillie et al 2008). The values we found in feathers are within this range for Ornate Tinamou at all sites, except for P1, with more than 2,200 ppb dw; and except for Darwin's Nothura at P2, with values higher than 1,000 ppb d-w.…”

“…However, Burger and Gochfeld (2009) The Spearman's Rho value is given in each box and the p value in brackets. N = 37 for feather and N = 41 for liver and kidney nature, with the highest values at the top of the trophic web.…”

Migration law of lead and cadmium from Chinese pots during the cooking process

“…This result is attributed to that low-solubility salts were formed and deposited on the internal surface of ceramic pot when the ethanol concentration was high; as a consequence, the corrosion was mitigated and the released amounts of lead decreased accordingly. [24] The released amounts of cadmium were the highest when the aluminum alloy pot was used to cook 15% ethanol; the amount reached a significant level of p < 0.05 at 0.094 μg/L. The released amounts of cadmium in the 10% ethanol at 0.066 μg/L were significantly higher than that in the 20% ethanol and distilled water.…”