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Mercury exposure of a wetland songbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, in the New York metropolitan area and its effect on nestling growth rate

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Abstract

The potential for mercury accumulation in free-living passerine birds is now recognized to be much greater than previously assumed. However, lowest observable effect levels have yet to be well established for this taxonomic group and it is usually unknown whether levels observed in the wild are causing adverse effects. We measured total blood mercury (THg) levels and took repeated morphological measurements from nestling red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus; N = 39) in the New York metropolitan area to investigate whether mercury affected their growth rate. We also compared THg levels of nestlings (and parents; N = 14) between our two study sites, which included riparian habitats along a city river and surrounding ponds in a nearby suburb, to examine differences between birds within and beyond the urban core. THg levels ranged 0.009–0.284 ppm in nestlings and 0.036–0.746 ppm in adults. Adults and nestlings had significantly higher THg outside of the city than within, possibly due to the ability of rivers to flush contaminants and the higher methylation potential of ponds. Among our candidate sets, models containing THg had minimal support for explaining variation in nestling growth rate. Summed Akaike weights further showed that THg had little relative importance. Mercury pollution in our sites may be low, or feather growth may have been sufficient to protect nestlings from accumulating harmful mercury levels in living tissues.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Christine Sheppard, Dustin Rubenstein, and Susan Elbin for their contributions to study design and interpretation of our findings. The Black Rock Forest Consortium provided funding as well as field support; we thank Bill Schuster, Barbara Brady, John Brady, and the rest of the Consortium staff. Additional funding was provided by the Eastern Bird Banding Association and the Buffalo Ornithological Society. We are grateful to Dan Cristol and his laboratory at the College of William and Mary for analyzing our samples. We thank Dianne Dapito at Columbia University for her assistance with genetic analyses and the Bronx Zoo and Hudson Highlands Nature Museum for providing access to field sites. Finally, we would like to acknowledge Dan Kim for his continued guidance. Field work was conducted under all appropriate USGS and New York State permits and approved by Columbia University’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

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  1. Allisyn-Marie Tsz Yan Gillet

    Present address: Compton-Drew Investigative Learning Center Middle School, 5130 Oakland Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Allisyn-Marie Tsz Yan Gillet

  2. Department of Biology and Health Science, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, USA

    Chad L. Seewagen

  3. Natural Resources Department, AKRF Inc, White Plains, NY, USA

    Chad L. Seewagen

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  1. Allisyn-Marie Tsz Yan Gillet
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Correspondence to Allisyn-Marie Tsz Yan Gillet.

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Gillet, AM.T.Y., Seewagen, C.L. Mercury exposure of a wetland songbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, in the New York metropolitan area and its effect on nestling growth rate. Environ Monit Assess 186, 4029–4036 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-3677-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-3677-x

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