Effects of organochlorine contaminants on reproduction of bald eagles in the Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron
- Eagle Environmental Inc., Haslett, MI (United States)
- Fish and Wildlife Service, East Lansing, MI (United States)
Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) have increased in the number of breeding pairs since the ban of DDT and PCBs in the 1970s. Eagles nesting near the Great Lakes were nearly extirpated by 1960. While reproductive productivity has generally increased, the recovery of the bald eagle has not been uniform. The authors have previously reported on the general impairment of bald eagle reproduction in eagles that nest near four of the Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie) that they currently occupy. The authors report here on those eagles that nest within the Saginaw Bay, along Lake Huron, and in interior areas in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Eagles nesting along the Saginaw Bay and River have much lesser productivity (0.21 young per occupied nest) and much greater concentrations in blood plasma of nestling eagles [mean 558 ppb Total PCBs (range 252--928 ppb; n = 3); mean 66 ppb p,p{prime}-DDE (range 57--78 ppb)] than those along Lake Huron that are not within the Saginaw Bay [0.43 young per occupied nest; mean 88 ppb Total PCBs (range < 10--160; n = 9); mean 24 ppb p,p{prime}-DDE (range < 541 ppb; n = 9)], and those from interior areas of the Lower Peninsula (1.14 young per occupied nest); mean 31 ppb Total PCBs (range < 10--200 ppb; n = 49); mean 10 ppb p,p{prime}-DDE (range < 5--193 ppb; n = 49), for the period 1987--1993. Addled eggs collected during this time period from the Saginaw Bay region also were above all concentrations of PCBs associated with both reproductive impairment and total reproductive failure. The relative potency of these compounds in Saginaw Bay appear to be associated with the current reproductive impairment of bald eagles there.
- OSTI ID:
- 218483
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9619%%204
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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