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Mercury in breeding saltmarsh sparrows (Ammodramus caudacutus caudacutus)

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Abstract

Environmental mercury exposure of birds through atmospheric deposition and watershed point-source contamination is an issue of increasing concern globally. The saltmarsh sparrow (Ammodramus caudacutus) is of high conservation concern throughout its range and the potential threat of mercury exposure adds to other anthropogenic stressors, including sea level rise. To assess methylmercury exposure we sampled blood of the northern nominal subspecies of saltmarsh sparrows (A. c. caudacutus) nesting in 21 tidal marshes throughout most of the species’ breeding range. Blood of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) was sampled concurrently at three of these sites to provide a comparison with a well-studied songbird that is a model species in ecotoxicology. Arithmetic means (±1 SD) ranged from 0.24 ± 0.06 μg g−1 wet weight (ww) in Connecticut to 1.80 ± 0.14 μg g−1 ww in Massachusetts, differing significantly among sites. Comparison to tree swallows indicates that mercury exposure is significantly higher in saltmarsh sparrows, making them a more appropriate bioindicator for assessing risk to methylmercury toxicity in tidal marsh ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this project was provided by US Fish and Wildlife Service, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Maine Department of Environmental Protection. We are grateful to the staff of Rachel Carson and Parker River NWRs for their logistical support and help in the field. We thank Greg Shriver for his expert technical advice. Thanks to Steve Mierzykowski for help in the field and with the project. We thank the following individuals for their help and support: Sam Edmonds from Biodiversity Research Institute, Jen Walsh at the University of New Hampshire for field assistance; Sara Williams at Stewart B. McKinney NWR and Suzanne Paton at Ninigret NWR; the staff of Wertheim NWR, Mike Farina and the staff of the Marine Nature Study Area in Hempstead, Long Island and numerous interns from all the refuges for their enthusiastic assistance in the field, Carina Gjerdrum and Chris Elphick from University of CT for providing sparrow blood from Hammock River site in CT; and all the volunteers who came out to help catch birds, especially Frank Dehler for his many hours of assistance and valuable help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BioDiversity Research Institute, 19 Flaggy Meadow Rd, Gorham, ME, 04038, USA

    Oksana P. Lane & David C. Evers

  2. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Rachel Carson NWR, 321 Port Rd., Wells, ME, 04090, USA

    Kathleen M. O’Brien

  3. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 650 State St., Bangor, ME, 04401, USA

    Thomas P. Hodgman

  4. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 70 Commercial St., Concord, NH, 03301, USA

    Andrew Major

  5. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Parker River NWR, 6 Plum Island Turnpike, Newburyport, MA, 01950, USA

    Nancy Pau

  6. Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, 114 James Hall, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    Mark J. Ducey

  7. Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Public Health, Trace Element Research Lab, VMA Bldg. Room 107, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Robert Taylor & Deborah Perry

Authors
  1. Oksana P. Lane
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  2. Kathleen M. O’Brien
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  3. David C. Evers
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  4. Thomas P. Hodgman
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  5. Andrew Major
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  6. Nancy Pau
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  7. Mark J. Ducey
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  8. Robert Taylor
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  9. Deborah Perry
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oksana P. Lane.

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The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Appendix

Appendix

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Table 2 Breeding saltmarsh sparrow arithmetic mean of whole blood total Hg concentrations and range (μg g−1, ww) from New England and New York salt marshes, 2004–2008 (sites are arranged in geographic order from north to south, RCNWR Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, MNSA Marine Nature Study Area, n number of birds sampled)
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Lane, O.P., O’Brien, K.M., Evers, D.C. et al. Mercury in breeding saltmarsh sparrows (Ammodramus caudacutus caudacutus). Ecotoxicology 20, 1984–1991 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-011-0740-z

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