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Retrospective biomonitoring of mercury and other elements in museum feathers of common kestrel Falco tinnunculus using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA)

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Abstract

This study examines the potential to use instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) to explore temporal and geographical variation in exposure to heavy metals and other selected elements in common kestrel Falco tinnunculus using feathers from a natural history collection. The study gathered samples of two breast feathers from each of 16 adult male kestrel specimens from Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, collected in The Netherlands between 1901 and 2001. Feather samples were analysed for more than 50 elements, using INAA at the Reactor Institute Delft. Results (in mg/kg dw) were transformed into ratios of milligram of element per millimetre of feather length. The distribution of the mass fractions and ratios was plotted for each element against time and by geographical area. Observed mass fractions and/or ratios are discussed for selected elements (Hg, Cd, Zn, Pt, Pd, Se, Al, Rb, As, Sb, Cr, V, Cl, Br) known to have, at certain concentrations, adverse effects on raptors. Some samples show mass fractions of certain elements (Cr, Cd, Se, As) above levels known to have adverse effects. We conclude that the analysis of museum feathers using INAA provides reference values for concentrations of selected elements, including those of high societal concern such as Hg and Cd, against which to assess concentrations of these elements in feathers of present-day living raptor populations.

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Notes

  1. The calamus is removed as this has a different growth rate and therefore could skew the concentration values per millimetre length of vane (Bortolotti 2010).

  2. http://www.eurapmon.net/sm6-naturalis-aug-2014

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for a pre-submission review of this paper, Becky Desjardin and Pepijn Kamminga (Naturalis Biodiversity Centre) for taking the feather samples, Menno Blaauw (TU Delft) for the use of the INAA facilities and Maarten Hakvoort (TU Delft) for performing the INAA analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR, Leiden, Netherlands

    Paola Movalli, René Dekker & Steven van der Mije

  2. Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Mekelweg 15, 2629 JB, Delft, Netherlands

    Peter Bode

  3. Associazione FaunaViva, Via A. Fumagalli 6, 20123, Milan, Italy

    Lorenzo Fornasari

  4. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Eilat Campus, 8499000, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    Reuven Yosef

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  1. Paola Movalli
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Correspondence to Paola Movalli.

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Movalli, P., Bode, P., Dekker, R. et al. Retrospective biomonitoring of mercury and other elements in museum feathers of common kestrel Falco tinnunculus using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 25986–26005 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0157-1

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