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Patterns and Trends in Environmental Contaminants in Nestling Bald Eagles. Bill Route and Rebecca Key, National Park Service Cheryl Dykstra, Raptor Environmental Mike Meyer, and Paul Rasmussen, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Robin Russell, USGS
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Patterns and Trends in Environmental Contaminants in Nestling Bald Eagles Bill Route and Rebecca Key, National Park Service Cheryl Dykstra, Raptor Environmental Mike Meyer, and Paul Rasmussen, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Robin Russell, USGS Andrew Lindstrum and Mark Strynar, EPA
Great Lakes I&M Network • 9 NPS units • 6 yr inventory and planning • 2006 began monitoring
Air quality Weather Landbirds Vegetation Waterquality Toxics Amphibians/wetlands Land use
Chemicals & sampling • 2 Heavy metals • Mercury • Lead • 2 Legacy contaminants • DDT & metabolites DDE/DDD • PCBs (75 congeners) • 2 Emerging contaminants • Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs; 16 analytes) • Polybrominateddiphenyl ethers (PBDEs; 9 congeners) • 2006-2011 baseline, then 2-year intervals
Remote, low human population levels Urban, industrial, high human population levels
DDEStill elevated at some nest sites 28 ppb threshold: Elliot and Harris 2001/2002, Reviews in Toxicology 4, 1-60
DDE declined 3% annually 1989-2009 Eagles on Apostle Islands increasing Dykstra, Route et al. 2010 JGLR 36(3):561-569
Mercury Spatial patterns
Average mercury levels Declined 2.4% per year, 1991-2009 Dykstra, Route et al. 2010 JGLR 36(3):561-569
ƩPBDE trends -5.5%/yr decline ? Routeand Dykstra et al, In preparation
PFCs that show increases Modeled geometric means from 3 independent labs Bayesian analysis by Robin Russell, USGS Routeand Russell et al, In preparation
Conclusions • Industrial compounds highest near urban areas • Mercury linked to % wetlands in the drainage • Several compounds declined: • Mercury (91-09) and lead (feathers) • DDE, ƩPCBs, ƩPBDEs, ƩPFCs… • Individual congeners more complex • Higher brominated PBDEs (153 & 154) show signs of increase on the St Croix and downstream on the Mississippi • PFNA (LS) and PFTrDA (regionally) show increases
Any questions ? • Major Funding • National Park Service • Great Lakes Restoration Initiative • Minnesota Pollution Control Agency