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You are what you eat: urban soil lead predicts American robin (Turdus migratorius) blood lead in Flint, MI

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Abstract

High levels of pollutants can occur in urban environments and pose a threat to human residents as well as local wildlife. Many urban centers suffer from lead-contaminated drinking water due to the corrosion of pipe infrastructure. Irrigation with this water may contribute to soil lead levels. The American robin (Turdus migratorius) is a widespread songbird in North America, well-known for hunting earthworms in urban lawns. This earthworm specialization results in the ingestion of large amounts of soil. This study investigates the impact of the Flint, Michigan (MI) water crisis, during which the city water supply was contaminated with lead, on American robins during their breeding season in southeast MI. We compared soil lead levels (SLL) and blood lead levels (BLL) of birds captured at irrigated sites of Flint to those captured at non-irrigated sites of Flint during April - August from 2018 to 2020. Control sites included irrigated sites in a nearby city without a known history of lead pollution (Ypsilanti, MI: irrigated urban control) and non-irrigated rural sites. BLL were elevated in irrigated sites of Flint relative to the irrigated urban control and non-irrigated rural sites. Further, robin BLL were positively and strongly correlated with lawn SLL across our seven study sites suggesting that high BLL in American robins may predict elevated soil lead levels. Further research should address how lead might be impacting urban wildlife and if robins can serve as a bioindicator of lead exposure for other neighborhood inhabitants, including human children whose main route of lead exposure is through soil contact.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available in ScholarsArchive@OSU at https://doi.org/10.7267/3r0753380.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the City of Flint, University of Michigan-Flint, Mott Community College and Eastern Michigan University for granting permission to access study sites and continued collaborative support. Garth Herring provided guidance regarding LeadCareII BLL adjustments and Suzanne Austin provided statistical advice. We also thank the members of the Cornelius Lab, Peter Bednekoff and Brian Connolly for feedback during study design and on earlier versions of the manuscript. Selena Chiparus, Bradley Allendorfer, Rachel Koski, and Mackenzie Kelley assisted with fieldwork during this study.

Funding

Funding was provided by Eastern Michigan University (EMU), Oregon State University, the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology, and the Women in Philanthropy at EMU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA

    Dorothy L. Zahor, Kenneth J. Glynn & Jamie M. Cornelius

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemsitry, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Brian Majestic

  3. Department of Biology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA

    Dorothy L. Zahor, Kenneth J. Glynn & Jamie M. Cornelius

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  1. Dorothy L. Zahor
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  2. Kenneth J. Glynn
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Contributions

D.Z., K.G., and J.C. contributed to funding acquisition. D.Z. and J.C. contributed to study conception and design. Data collection was completed by D.Z., K.G., and J.C. B.M. completed soil processing. Analyses were performed by D.Z., K.G., and J.C. The first draft of the manuscript was written by D.Z. and all authors commented on further versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dorothy L. Zahor.

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This work was approved by Eastern Michigan University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocol #2015-072, and all relevant Michigan State and Federal permits.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zahor, D., Glynn, K., Majestic, B. et al. You are what you eat: urban soil lead predicts American robin (Turdus migratorius) blood lead in Flint, MI. Urban Ecosyst (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-024-01546-w

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