Food-chain transfer and effects of selenium in waterfowl

• Main Authors: Chen, Yu-Wei, Belzile, Nelson, Badzinski, Shannon, Petrie, Scott
• Other Authors: School of Environmental Sciences
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Zebra Mussel; White-winged Scoters; Common Goldeneye; Bufflehead; Long-tailed Duck; Sediments; Contamination; Scaup; Selenium; Aythya marila; greater scaup; Kuskokwim; Alaska; Yukon
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10214/2150

A7. Principal investigator: Scott Petrie The combined continental population of Lesser (Aythya affinis) and Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)(hereafter scaup) declined by 50% between the mid-1980s and late 1990s (Austin et al. 2000). One hypothesis for the decline is that birds are acquiring unhealthy contaminant burdens on the lower Great Lakes (LGL). This project has 3 inter-related parts to: 1/ determine levels of contaminants (particularly selenium) acquired by scaup (and other diving ducks) staging and wintering on the LGL, 2/ evaluate the contribution of Se contamination from food as well as surrounding water and sediments, and 3/ determine contaminant levels in Greater Scaup breeding on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD), Alaska. Metals in the Human Environment Strategic Network