Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of mercury, selenium, and organochlorine contaminants on reproduction of Forster's terns and black skimmers nesting in a contaminated Texas Bay

  • Published:
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mean mercury (0.40 μg/g), and geometric mean DDE (1.6 μg/g) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) (2.3 μg/g) concentrations in Forster's tern (Sterna forsteri) eggs from Lavaca Bay were higher than those in tern eggs from a reference area in San Antonio Bay, but residues were not correlated with hatching success. Nest success was similar between bays. Selenium levels in Lavaca Bay tern eggs (0.71 μg/g) were also comparable to those in eggs from the reference area (0.68 μg/g).

Clutch size (3.1 to 3.4) of Lavaca Bay black skimmers (Rynchops niger) was no different than that (3.4) at a reference colony near Laguna Vista. Nest success was similar among three Lavaca Bay colonies, but success was lower at one Lavaca Bay colony (40%) than at Laguna Vista (65%). Mean mercury (0.46 μg/g) and selenium (0.75 μg/g) concentrations in skimmer eggs from Lavaca Bay were higher than those (0.19, 0.33 μg/g) from Laguna Vista; however, concentrations of neither contaminant were related to hatching success. DDE concentrations in Lavaca Bay skimmer eggs (3.4 μg/g) were similar to those from Laguna Vista (3.2 μg/g) and DDE was negatively correlated with hatching success. PCBs were higher in eggs from Lavaca Bay (1.3 μg/g) than Laguna Vista (0.8 μg/g). Organochlorine and metal contaminants in most eggs were below embryotoxic levels. Eggshell thinning in Forster's terns (7%) and black skimmers (5%) was below that associated with lowered reproduction.

DDE and PCBs were detected in 9 Caspian tern (S. caspia) eggs; maximum concentrations were 4.7 and 5.4 μg/g. Caspian tern and least tern (S. albifrons) eggs contained low (⩽0.9 μg/g) concentrations of mercury and selenium.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson DW, Hickey JJ, Risebrough RW, Hughes DF, Christensen RE (1969) Significance of chlorinated hydrocarbon residues to breeding pelicans and cormornats. Can Field-Nat 83:91–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Bent AC (1921) Life Histories of North American Gulls and Terns. US Nat Museum Bull 113. Washington DC, 345 pp

  • Blus LJ (1970) Measurements of brown pelican eggshells from Florida and South Carolina. BioScience 20:867–869

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1982) Further interpretation of the relation of organochlorine residues in brown pelican eggs to reproductive success. Environ Pollut 28:15–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Blus LJ, Neely BS, Lamont TG, Mulhern B (1977) Residues of organochlorines and heavy metals in tissues and eggs of brown pelicans, 1969–73. Pestic Monit J 11:40–53

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blus LJ, Neely Jr BS, Belisle AA, Prouty RM (1974) Organochlorine residues in brown pelican eggs: relation to reproductive success. Environ Pollut 7:81–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Connors PG, Anderlini VC, Risebrough RW, Gilbertson M, Hays H (1975) Investigations of heavy metals in common tern populations. Can Field-Nat 89:157–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Custer TW, Heinz GH (1980) Reproductive success and nest attentiveness of mallard ducks fed Aroclor 1254®. Environ Pollut 21:313–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Custer TW, Hensler GL, Kaiser TE (1983) Clutch size, reproductive success, and organochlorine contaminants in Atlantic Coast black-crowned night-herons. Auk 100:699–710

    Google Scholar 

  • Custer TW, Mitchell CA (1987) Organochlorine contaminants and reproductive success of black skimmers in south Texas, 1984. J Field Ornithol 58:480–489

    Google Scholar 

  • DePue J (1974) Nesting and reproduction in the black skimmer (Rynchops niger) on four spoil islands in the Laguna Madre, Texas. MS Thesis, Texas A&I Univ, Kingsville

    Google Scholar 

  • Faber RA, Hickey JJ (1973) Eggshell thinning, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and mercury in inland aquatic bird eggs, 1969 and 1970. Pestic Monit J 7:27–36

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fimreite N (1971) Effects of dietary methylmercury on ring-necked pheasants. Occas Pap Can Wildl Serv 9:1–37

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1974) Mercury contamination of aquatic birds in north-western Ontario. J Wildl Manage 38:120–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Fimreite N, Holsworth WM, Keith JA, Pearch PA, Gruchy IM (1971) Mercury in fish and fish-eating birds near sites of industrial contamination in Canada. Can Field-Nat 84:211–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Finley MT, Stendell RC (1978) Survival and reproductive success of black ducks fed mercury. Environ Pollut 16:51–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinz G (1975) Effects of methylmercury on approach and avoidance behavior of mallard ducklings. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 13:554–564

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • — (1980) Eggshell thickness in birds fed methylmercury. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 25:498–502

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heinz G, Locke LN (1976) Brain lesions in mallard ducklings from parents fed methylmercury. Avian Dis 20:9–17

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hensler G, Nichols JD (1981) The Mayfield method for estimating nesting success: A model, estimators and simulation results. Wilson Bull 93:42–53

    Google Scholar 

  • King KA, Blankinship DR, Payne E, Krynitsky AJ, Hensler GL (1985) Brown pelican populations and pollutants in Texas 1975–1981. Wilson Bull 97:201–214

    Google Scholar 

  • King KA, Flickinger EL, Hildebrand HH (1978) Shell thinning and pesticide residues in Texas aquatic bird eggs. Pestic Monit J 12:16–21

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • King KA, Krynitsky AJ (1986) Population trends, reproductive success, and organochlorine chemical contaminants in waterbirds nesting in Galveston Bay, Texas. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 15:367–376

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • King KA, LaFever CA, Mulhern BM (1983) Organochlorine and metal residues in royal terns nesting on the central Texas coast. J Field Ornithol 54:295–303

    Google Scholar 

  • King KA, Meeker DL, Swineford DM (1980) White-faced Ibis populations and pollutants in Texas, 1969–1976. Southwest Nat 25:225–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Krynitsky A, (1987) Preparation of biological tissue for determination of arsenic and selenium by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Anal Chem 59:1884–1886

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kubiak TJ, Harris HJ, Smith LM, Schwartz TR, Stalling DL, Trick JA, Sileo L, Docherty DE, Erdman TC (1989) Microcontaminants and reproductive impairment of the Forster's tern on Green Bay, Lake Michigan-1983. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 18:706–727

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • May TW, McKinney GL (1981) Cadmium, lead, mercury, arsenic, and selenium concentrations in freshwater fish 1976–77-National Pesticide Monitoring Program. Pestic Monit J 15:14–38

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mayfield HF (1961) Nesting success calculated from exposure. Wilson Bull 73:255–261

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1975) Suggestions for calculating nest success. Wilson Bull 87:456–466

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore JW, Sutherland DJ (1980) Mercury concentrations in fish inhabiting two polluted lakes in Northern Canada. Water Res 14:903–907

    Google Scholar 

  • Neter J, Wasserman W (1974) Applied linear models. Richard D Irwin Inc, Homewood IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberholser HC (1974) The birdlife of Texas. Vol. 1. Univ Texas Press, Austin TX

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohlendorf HM, Custer TW, Lowe RW, Rigney M, Cromartie E (1988) Organochlorines and mercury in eggs of coastal terns and herons in California, USA. Colonial Waterbirds 11:85–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohlendorf HM, Hothem RL, Bunck CM, Aldrich TW, Moore JF (1986) Relationships between selenium concentrations and avian reproduction. In: Trans 51st N Amer Wildl & Nat Res Conf 51:330–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Sims RR Jr, Presley BJ (1976) Heavy metal concentrations in organisms from an actively dredged Texas bay. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 16:520–527

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spann JW, Heath RG, Kreitzer JF, Locke LN (1972) Ethyl mercuryp-toluenesulfonanilide: Lethal and reproductive effects on pheasants. Science 175:328–331

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Speyer MR (1980) Mercury and selenium concentrations in fish, sediments, and water of two northwestern Quebec lakes. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 24:427–432

    Google Scholar 

  • Stickel LF (1973) Pesticide residues in birds and mammals. In: Edwards CA (ed) Environmental pollution by pesticides. Plenum Press, New York, pp 254–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Stickel LF, Wiemeyer SN, Blus LJ (1973) Pesticide residues in eggs of wild birds: adjustments for loss of moisture and lipid. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 9:193–196

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Texas Colonial Waterbird Society (1982) An atlas and census of Texas waterbird colonies. Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Kingsville, TX

    Google Scholar 

  • Texas Department of Health, Division of Shellfish Sanitation and Control (1982) Mercury concentrations in marine organisms of Lavaca Bay. Unpub rept 112 pp

  • Vermeer K (1971) A survey of mercury residues in aquatic bird eggs in the Canadian prairie provinces. Trans N Am Wildl Nat Resour Conf 36:138–152

    Google Scholar 

  • — (1973) Comparison of food habits and mercury residues of Caspian and common terns. Canadian-Field Nat. 87:305

    Google Scholar 

  • Vermeer K, Armstrong FAJ, Hatch DRM (1973) Mercury in aquatic birds at Clay Lake, Western Ontario. J Wildl Manage 37:58–61

    Google Scholar 

  • White DH, King KA, Prouty RM (1980) Significance of organochlorine and heavy metal residues in wintering shorebirds at Corpus Christi, Texas, 1976–77. Pestic Monit J 14:58–63

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White DH, Mitchell CA, Swineford DM (1984) Reproductive success of black skimmers in Texas relative to environmental pollutants. J Field Ornithol 55:18–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Windom HL (1972) Arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, and zinc in marine biota-North Atlantic Ocean. In: Baseline studies of pollutants in the marine environment, (I.D.O.E.) Nat Sci Found. Upton, Long Island, NY, pp 121–148

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 20708, Laurel, Maryland, USA

    Kirke A. King & Thomas W. Custer

  2. Department of Biology, Queen's University, K7L 3N6, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    James S. Quinn

Authors
  1. Kirke A. King
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas W. Custer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James S. Quinn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

King, K.A., Custer, T.W. & Quinn, J.S. Effects of mercury, selenium, and organochlorine contaminants on reproduction of Forster's terns and black skimmers nesting in a contaminated Texas Bay. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 20, 32–40 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065325

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065325

Keywords

Search

Navigation