Abstract
Methylmercury (MeHg) is a global environmental contaminant that poses significant risks to the health of humans, wildlife, and ecosystems. Assessing MeHg exposure in biota across the landscape and over time is vital for monitoring MeHg pollution and gauging the effectiveness of regulations intended to reduce new mercury (Hg) releases. We used MeHg concentrations measured in museum specimen feathers (collected between 1869 and 2014) and total Hg concentrations (as a proxy for MeHg) of feathers sampled from wild birds (collected between 2008 and 2017) to investigate temporal patterns in exposure over approximately 150 years for North American songbirds. For individual species, we found greater concentrations for samples collected post-2000 compared to those collected during historic times (pre-1900) for six of seven songbird species. Mean feather concentrations measured in samples collected post-2000 ranged between 1.9 and 17 times (mean 6.6) greater than historic specimens. The proportion of individual songbirds with feather concentrations that exceeded modeled toxicity benchmarks increased in samples collected after 1940. Only 2% of individual songbirds collected prior to 1940 had feather concentrations greater than 2.4 μg/g (a toxicity benchmark related to a 10% decrease in nest success) compared to 35% of individuals collected post-1940. Many species included in this study have a vulnerable or near-threatened conservation status, suggesting recovery actions are needed to address mercury pollution.
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Acknowledgements
The University of Alaska Museum Bird Collection (Kevin Winker, Jack Withrow) and the Ornithology Department of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology provided feather samples for this study. We thank Jessica Ewald, Beverly Ge, Amelia Valberg, and Prentiss Balcom at Harvard University for their help with sample analysis. Patti Wohner provided rusty blackbird samples. We thank BRI’s Wildlife Mercury Lab staff for the many hours put toward this endeavor. Funding to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (for JCH) was provided by the Federal Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program, which administers State Wildlife Grants nationwide. Funding was also provided by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
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Perkins, M., Lane, O.P., Evers, D.C. et al. Historical patterns in mercury exposure for North American songbirds. Ecotoxicology 29, 1161–1173 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-019-02054-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-019-02054-w