Great and Blue Tits as Indicators of Heavy Metal Contamination in Terrestrial Ecosystems

Eens, Marcel; Pinxten, Rianne; Verheyen, R.F.; Blust, Ronny; Bervoets, Lieven

doi:10.1006/eesa.1999.1828

Cited by 125 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…They are fed solely insects with a dominance of Lepidoptera larvae (Cramp and Perrins 1993). A study by Eens et al (1999) found interspecific differences in lead, copper, and zinc levels in feathers of adult great and blue tits, with significantly higher levels in the latter species. Differences in feeding ecology and metabolic rate between the two species are probably responsible for differences in contamination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Can Excrement and Feathers of Nestling Songbirds Be Used as Biomonitors for Heavy Metal Pollution?

Dauwe

Bervoets

Blust

et al. 2000

Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol.

186

104

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Although birds have been frequently used as indicators of heavy metal pollution, few studies have examined pollutant levels in nestling passerines. In this paper we determined the levels of two essential (zinc and copper) and three nonessential heavy metals (lead, cadmium, and arsenic) in the excrement and feathers of great (Parus major) and blue tit (Parus caeruleus) nestlings at a polluted site (near a metallurgic factory) and a reference site (4 km farther east). The excrement of both great and blue tit nestlings contained significantly higher concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, and lead at the polluted site. Zinc concentrations did not differ significantly between sites for both species. The feathers of great and blue tit nestlings accumulated significantly higher concentrations of lead at the polluted site than at the reference site. Zinc levels in the feathers of great tit nestlings were significantly higher at the reference site than at the polluted site. For all other elements considered, concentrations did not differ significantly between the two sites. There were no interspecific differences in metal levels between great and blue tits in both excrement and feathers. There was a significant positive correlation between the lead concentration in the excrement and feathers for both great and blue tits. We therefore conclude that excrement of great and blue tit nestlings can be used as a biomonitor for heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, and copper), whereas feathers appear only to be suitable as a biomonitor for lead pollution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Can Excrement and Feathers of Nestling Songbirds Be Used as Biomonitors for Heavy Metal Pollution?

Dauwe

Bervoets

Blust

et al. 2000

Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol.

186

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In terrestrial ecosystems, a number of recent studies show that hole-nesting passerines, notably the common and ecologically well-known tits (Parus spp. ), may serve as valuable monitors of environmental stressors, such as organochlorines (Dauwe et al, 2003), heavy metals (Llacuna et al, 1995;Eens et al, 1999;Dauwe et al, 2000), and urban air pollution (Eeva and Lehikoinen, 1995;Eeva et al, 2000). Common to these and other anthropogenic pollutants is that the initial physiological effect is some form of oxidative stress (see below) associated with a specific defense mechanism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Plasma Glutathione and Carotenoid Coloration as Potential Biomarkers of Environmental Stress in Great Tits

et al. 2005

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Measures of oxidative stress in animals may be useful biomarkers of environmental stressors, such as anthropogenic pollution. In birds, studies of oxidative stress have focused on dietary antioxidants, primarily carotenoids, which are interesting due to their multiple physiological and pigmentary functions but therefore also unspecifically related to oxidative stress. A useful complementary biomarker may be the glutathione system, commonly used in human medicine, but rarely applied to wild, terrestrial vertebrates. In this study of urban versus rural adult and nestling great tits Parus major, we investigated both the carotenoid-based yellow plumage (by reflectance spectrometry) and the plasma levels of glutathione, the latter measured as total glutathione (tGSH) and as the ratio between oxidized and reduced glutathione (GSSG:GSH), respectively. We found that urban adults had higher current oxidative stress (GSSG:GSH) and paler yellow plumage compared to rural adults, suggesting elevated stress in the urban environment. Total glutathione levels (tGSH), however, which may indicate long-term up-regulation of the GSH reservoir, did not differ between the environments.Nestlings did not show any consistent pattern between environments in either tGSH or GSSG:GSH and, among individuals, glutathione levels were uncorrelated with carotenoid coloration. The results thus suggest some population-level correspondence between the two stress biomarkers in adult birds, but more work is obviously needed to understand how the two antioxidant systems interact in different individuals and in response to different environmental disturbances.

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“…In this study, we report their range of variation as well as some of the causes for this variation in a population inhabiting a suburban mixed deciduous wood. We conducted our study using the Great Tit as it is a common passerine with a widespread distribution that is often used as a research object in animal ecology studies (Gosler 1993), and could be a suitable sentinel species (Furness 1993;Eens et al 1999). Variation of morphological parameters have been well studied in this species (van Balen 1967;Gosler 1991Gosler , 2002, and a few studies have described methodology and sources of natural variation of Great Tit hemato-serological parameters, but only during the breeding season (Ots et al 1998;Kilgas et al 2006), and enzymatic activities have not been studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation of adult Great Tit Parus major body condition and blood parameters in relation to sex, age, year and season

et al. 2009

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In recent years, an increasing number of studies have focused on the ranges of variation of health related biochemical and haematological parameters in wildlife, but information is still scarce for enzymatic activities which can be extremely important in detecting potential responses to environmental change. In a Great Tit (Parus major) population, we describe the variation in relation to age, sex, season and year of: (1) morphological: body condition index, fat and muscle, (2) haematological: hematocrit, haemoglobin, white blood cell count and heterophil/lymphocyte ratio, and (3) biochemical parameters: plasma protein and activities of plasma cholinesterases (acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase) activity and red blood cell glutathione peroxidase. Sex had significant effects on all morphological parameters except fat. Age significantly affected cholinesterase activities, H/L ratio and haemoglobin, and there was a significant interaction between sex and age affecting hematocrit. There were significant interactions of year and season affecting almost all parameters studied-body condition index, fat, protein, acetyl and butyrylcholinesterase activities, glutathione peroxidase activity and haemoglobin. This study indicates that these parameters are largely influenced by year and seasonal effects, besides the individual's intrinsic variation. Therefore, when evaluating experimental or environmental change effects, appropriate controls should be used.

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Great and Blue Tits as Indicators of Heavy Metal Contamination in Terrestrial Ecosystems

Cited by 125 publications

References 20 publications

Can Excrement and Feathers of Nestling Songbirds Be Used as Biomonitors for Heavy Metal Pollution?

Can Excrement and Feathers of Nestling Songbirds Be Used as Biomonitors for Heavy Metal Pollution?

Plasma Glutathione and Carotenoid Coloration as Potential Biomarkers of Environmental Stress in Great Tits

Variation of adult Great Tit Parus major body condition and blood parameters in relation to sex, age, year and season

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