Mercury in Nelson's Sparrow subspecies at breeding sites.
BACKGROUND: Mercury is a persistent, biomagnifying contaminant that can cause negative effects on ecosystems. Marshes are often areas of relatively high mercury methylation and bioaccumulation. Nelson's Sparrows (Ammodramus nelsoni) use marsh habitats year-round and have been documented to exhi...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:3455f8bbc25b4c908dbf5197b50945f6 2023-05-15T17:13:17+02:00 Mercury in Nelson's Sparrow subspecies at breeding sites. Virginia L Winder Steven D Emslie 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032257 https://doaj.org/article/3455f8bbc25b4c908dbf5197b50945f6 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3285213?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032257 https://doaj.org/article/3455f8bbc25b4c908dbf5197b50945f6 PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 2, p e32257 (2012) Medicine R Science Q article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032257 2022-12-31T00:29:09Z BACKGROUND: Mercury is a persistent, biomagnifying contaminant that can cause negative effects on ecosystems. Marshes are often areas of relatively high mercury methylation and bioaccumulation. Nelson's Sparrows (Ammodramus nelsoni) use marsh habitats year-round and have been documented to exhibit tissue mercury concentrations that exceed negative effects thresholds. We sought to further characterize the potential risk of Nelson's Sparrows to mercury exposure by sampling individuals from sites within the range of each of its subspecies. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From 2009 to 2011, we captured adult Nelson's Sparrows at sites within the breeding range of each subspecies (A. n. nelsoni: Grand Forks and Upham, North Dakota; A. n. alterus: Moosonee, Ontario; and A. n. subvirgatus: Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick) and sampled breast feathers, the first primary feather (P1), and blood for total mercury analysis. Mean blood mercury in nelsoni individuals captured near Grand Forks ranged from 0.84 ± 0.37 to 1.65 ± 1.02 SD ppm among years, between 2.0 and 4.9 times as high as concentrations at the other sites (P<0.01). Breast feather mercury did not vary among sites within a given sampling year (site means ranged from 0.98 ± 0.69 to 2.71 ± 2.93 ppm). Mean P1 mercury in alterus (2.96 ± 1.84 ppm fw) was significantly lower than in any other sampled population (5.25 ± 2.24-6.77 ± 3.51 ppm; P ≤ 0.03). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study further characterized mercury in Nelson's Sparrows near Grand Forks; we documented localized and potentially harmful mercury concentrations, indicating that this area may represent a biological mercury hotspot. This finding warrants further research to determine if wildlife populations of conservation or recreational interest in this area may be experiencing negative effects due to mercury exposure. We present preliminary conclusions about the risk of each sampled population to mercury exposure. Article in Journal/Newspaper Moosonee Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Manan ENVELOPE(8.748,8.748,62.793,62.793) Grand Forks ENVELOPE(-139.317,-139.317,63.920,63.920) PLoS ONE 7 2 e32257 |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Virginia L Winder Steven D Emslie Mercury in Nelson's Sparrow subspecies at breeding sites. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
BACKGROUND: Mercury is a persistent, biomagnifying contaminant that can cause negative effects on ecosystems. Marshes are often areas of relatively high mercury methylation and bioaccumulation. Nelson's Sparrows (Ammodramus nelsoni) use marsh habitats year-round and have been documented to exhibit tissue mercury concentrations that exceed negative effects thresholds. We sought to further characterize the potential risk of Nelson's Sparrows to mercury exposure by sampling individuals from sites within the range of each of its subspecies. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From 2009 to 2011, we captured adult Nelson's Sparrows at sites within the breeding range of each subspecies (A. n. nelsoni: Grand Forks and Upham, North Dakota; A. n. alterus: Moosonee, Ontario; and A. n. subvirgatus: Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick) and sampled breast feathers, the first primary feather (P1), and blood for total mercury analysis. Mean blood mercury in nelsoni individuals captured near Grand Forks ranged from 0.84 ± 0.37 to 1.65 ± 1.02 SD ppm among years, between 2.0 and 4.9 times as high as concentrations at the other sites (P<0.01). Breast feather mercury did not vary among sites within a given sampling year (site means ranged from 0.98 ± 0.69 to 2.71 ± 2.93 ppm). Mean P1 mercury in alterus (2.96 ± 1.84 ppm fw) was significantly lower than in any other sampled population (5.25 ± 2.24-6.77 ± 3.51 ppm; P ≤ 0.03). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study further characterized mercury in Nelson's Sparrows near Grand Forks; we documented localized and potentially harmful mercury concentrations, indicating that this area may represent a biological mercury hotspot. This finding warrants further research to determine if wildlife populations of conservation or recreational interest in this area may be experiencing negative effects due to mercury exposure. We present preliminary conclusions about the risk of each sampled population to mercury exposure. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Virginia L Winder Steven D Emslie |
author_facet |
Virginia L Winder Steven D Emslie |
author_sort |
Virginia L Winder |
title |
Mercury in Nelson's Sparrow subspecies at breeding sites. |
title_short |
Mercury in Nelson's Sparrow subspecies at breeding sites. |
title_full |
Mercury in Nelson's Sparrow subspecies at breeding sites. |
title_fullStr |
Mercury in Nelson's Sparrow subspecies at breeding sites. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mercury in Nelson's Sparrow subspecies at breeding sites. |
title_sort |
mercury in nelson's sparrow subspecies at breeding sites. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032257 https://doaj.org/article/3455f8bbc25b4c908dbf5197b50945f6 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(8.748,8.748,62.793,62.793) ENVELOPE(-139.317,-139.317,63.920,63.920) |
geographic |
Manan Grand Forks |
geographic_facet |
Manan Grand Forks |
genre |
Moosonee |
genre_facet |
Moosonee |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 2, p e32257 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3285213?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032257 https://doaj.org/article/3455f8bbc25b4c908dbf5197b50945f6 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032257 |
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PLoS ONE |
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7 |
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2 |
container_start_page |
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