Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland
Despite irrefutable evidence of its negative impact on animal behaviour and physiology, lethal and sublethal lead poisoning of wildlife is still persistent and widespread. For scavenging birds, ingestion of ammunition, or fragments thereof, is the major exposure route. In this study, we examined the...
Published in: | Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology |
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ftunivzuerich:oai:www.zora.uzh.ch:156836 2024-09-09T20:14:14+00:00 Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland Ganz, Kathrin Jenni, Lukas Madry, Milena M Kraemer, Thomas Jenny, Hannes Jenny, David 2018-11-01 https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/156836/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/156836 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-018-0561-7 eng eng Springer https://www.zora.uzh.ch/156836 doi:10.1007/s00244-018-0561-7 info:pmid/30238146 urn:issn:0090-4341 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Ganz, Kathrin; Jenni, Lukas; Madry, Milena M; Kraemer, Thomas; Jenny, Hannes; Jenny, David (2018). Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 75(4):566-575. Institute of Legal Medicine 340 Law 610 Medicine & health Toxicology Pollution Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis General Medicine Journal Article PeerReviewed info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2018 ftunivzuerich https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-018-0561-7 2024-08-28T00:37:25Z Despite irrefutable evidence of its negative impact on animal behaviour and physiology, lethal and sublethal lead poisoning of wildlife is still persistent and widespread. For scavenging birds, ingestion of ammunition, or fragments thereof, is the major exposure route. In this study, we examined the occurrence of lead in four avian scavengers of Switzerland and how it differs between species, regions, and age of the bird. We measured lead concentration in liver and bone of the two main alpine avian scavengers (golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos and bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus) over the entire area of the Swiss Alps and two of the main avian scavengers occurring in the lowlands of Switzerland (red kite Milvus milvus and common raven Corvus corax). Of those four species, only the bearded vulture is an obligate scavenger. We found that lead burdens in the two alpine avian scavengers were higher than those found for the same species elsewhere in Europe or North America and reached levels compatible with acute poisoning, whereas lead burdens of the two lowland avian scavengers seemed to be lower. Several golden eagles, but only one red kite with abnormally high bone lead concentrations were found. In all four species, a substantial proportion of birds had elevated levels which presumably represent recent (liver lead levels) or past (bone lead levels) uptake of sublethal doses of lead. Article in Journal/Newspaper Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 75 4 566 575 |
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University of Zurich (UZH): ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive |
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ftunivzuerich |
language |
English |
topic |
Institute of Legal Medicine 340 Law 610 Medicine & health Toxicology Pollution Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis General Medicine |
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Institute of Legal Medicine 340 Law 610 Medicine & health Toxicology Pollution Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis General Medicine Ganz, Kathrin Jenni, Lukas Madry, Milena M Kraemer, Thomas Jenny, Hannes Jenny, David Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland |
topic_facet |
Institute of Legal Medicine 340 Law 610 Medicine & health Toxicology Pollution Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis General Medicine |
description |
Despite irrefutable evidence of its negative impact on animal behaviour and physiology, lethal and sublethal lead poisoning of wildlife is still persistent and widespread. For scavenging birds, ingestion of ammunition, or fragments thereof, is the major exposure route. In this study, we examined the occurrence of lead in four avian scavengers of Switzerland and how it differs between species, regions, and age of the bird. We measured lead concentration in liver and bone of the two main alpine avian scavengers (golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos and bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus) over the entire area of the Swiss Alps and two of the main avian scavengers occurring in the lowlands of Switzerland (red kite Milvus milvus and common raven Corvus corax). Of those four species, only the bearded vulture is an obligate scavenger. We found that lead burdens in the two alpine avian scavengers were higher than those found for the same species elsewhere in Europe or North America and reached levels compatible with acute poisoning, whereas lead burdens of the two lowland avian scavengers seemed to be lower. Several golden eagles, but only one red kite with abnormally high bone lead concentrations were found. In all four species, a substantial proportion of birds had elevated levels which presumably represent recent (liver lead levels) or past (bone lead levels) uptake of sublethal doses of lead. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ganz, Kathrin Jenni, Lukas Madry, Milena M Kraemer, Thomas Jenny, Hannes Jenny, David |
author_facet |
Ganz, Kathrin Jenni, Lukas Madry, Milena M Kraemer, Thomas Jenny, Hannes Jenny, David |
author_sort |
Ganz, Kathrin |
title |
Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland |
title_short |
Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland |
title_full |
Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland |
title_fullStr |
Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland |
title_sort |
acute and chronic lead exposure in four avian scavenger species in switzerland |
publisher |
Springer |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/156836/ https://www.zora.uzh.ch/156836 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-018-0561-7 |
genre |
Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle |
genre_facet |
Aquila chrysaetos golden eagle |
op_source |
Ganz, Kathrin; Jenni, Lukas; Madry, Milena M; Kraemer, Thomas; Jenny, Hannes; Jenny, David (2018). Acute and Chronic Lead Exposure in Four Avian Scavenger Species in Switzerland. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 75(4):566-575. |
op_relation |
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/156836 doi:10.1007/s00244-018-0561-7 info:pmid/30238146 urn:issn:0090-4341 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-018-0561-7 |
container_title |
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology |
container_volume |
75 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
566 |
op_container_end_page |
575 |
_version_ |
1809815941241896960 |