Geographic variation of mercury in breeding tidal marsh sparrows of the northeastern United States

Saltmarsh sparrows ( Ammospiza caudacuta ) and seaside sparrows ( A. maritima ) are species of conservation concern primarily due to global sea-level rise and habitat degradation. Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination may present additional threats to their reproductive success and survival. To a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecotoxicology (London) 2021-11, Vol.30 (9), p.1929-1940
Main Authors: Sayers, Christopher J., Roeder, Mackenzie R., Forrette, Lindsay M., Roche, Daniel, Dupont, Gaetan L. B., Apgar, Sam E., Kocek, Alison R., Cook, Alexandra M., Shriver, W. Gregory, Elphick, Chris S., Olsen, Brian, Bonter, David N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Blood
Breeding
Breeding success
Coal-fired power plants
Contamination
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecology
Ecotoxicology
Environment
Environmental degradation
Environmental Management
Foraging
Foraging behavior
Foraging habitats
Geographical variations
Land cover
Land use
Mercury
Protection and preservation
Reproduction
Sea level changes
Sea level rise
Survival
Tidal marshes
Wet weight
Wetlands
Wildlife conservation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Saltmarsh sparrows ( Ammospiza caudacuta ) and seaside sparrows ( A. maritima ) are species of conservation concern primarily due to global sea-level rise and habitat degradation. Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination may present additional threats to their reproductive success and survival. To assess site-specific total mercury (THg) exposure and identify environmental correlates of THg detection, we sampled blood from adult male saltmarsh and seaside sparrows at 27 sites between Maine and Virginia, USA. The mean THg concentration (±1 SD) throughout the entire sampling range was 0.531 ± 0.287 µg/g wet weight (ww) for saltmarsh sparrows and 0.442 ± 0.316 µg/g ww for seaside sparrows. Individual THg concentrations ranged from 0.135–1.420 µg/g ww for saltmarsh sparrows and 0.153–1.530 µg/g ww for seaside sparrows. Model averaging from a suite of linear mixed models showed that saltmarsh sparrows averaged 20.1% higher blood THg concentrations than seaside sparrows, potentially due to differences in diet or foraging behavior. We found no evidence for a relationship between sparrow THg concentrations and land cover surrounding sampled marshes or average precipitation-based Hg deposition. Overall, our results suggest considerable, unexplained variation in tidal marsh sparrow blood THg concentrations over their co-occurring breeding ranges.
ISSN:0963-9292
1573-3017
DOI:10.1007/s10646-021-02461-y