Heavy metal concentrations in Cory`s shearwater, Calonectris diomedea, fledglings from the Azores, Portugal
- Univ. of Glasgow (United Kingdom)
Seabirds have been used extensively as monitors of heavy metals, demonstrating both significant temporal and geographical trends. Concentrations of heavy metals are often reported for adult birds but less often for chicks or fledglings. However, chicks have been proposed as particularly useful indicators for both baseline pollution studies and monitoring programs, as they concentrate heavy metals during a specific period of time (i.e. hatching to fledging) and from a local and definable foraging area. This can be much more valuable than measurements of adult tissue concentrations where it is rarely possible to evaluate the accumulation period or define the feeding area from which metals are accumulated. This study analyzes the amount of cadmium accumulated by Cory`s shearwater chicks in three months from hatching and measure interactions with copper and zinc. Tested was the hydpothesis is that variations in cadmium levels were due to differences in the amount of squid in individual chick diets. 16 refs., 1 fig., 3 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 525842
- Journal Information:
- Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Vol. 58, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: Jan 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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