Sedentary nestlings of Wood Stork as monitors of mercury contamination in the gold mining region of the Brazilian Pantanal

Autor(es)

Del Lama, Silvia Nassif ^[1] ; Rocha, Cristiano Dosualdo ^[1] ; Jardim, Wilson Figueiredo ^[2] ; Tsai, Jo-Szu ^[3] ; Frederick, Peter Crawford ^[3]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Genet & Evolucao, Lab Genet Aves, BR-13565905 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Chem, BR-13083970 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Florida, Dept Wildlife Ecol & Conservat, Gainesville, FL 32611 - USA

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Environmental Research; v. 111, n. 8, p. 1091-1095, NOV 2011.
• Citações Web of Science: 2

Resumo

Sedentary organisms that are at top trophic levels allow inference about the level of local mercury contamination. We evaluated mercury contamination in feather tissue of nestling Wood Storks (Mycteria americana), sampled in different parts of the Brazilian Pantanal that were variably polluted by mercury releases from gold mining activities. Levels of mercury in feathers sampled in seven breeding colonies were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy, and the mean value of mercury concentration was 0.557 mu g/g, dry weight (n=124), range 0.024-4.423 mu g/g. From this total sample, 21 feathers that represent 30% of nestlings collected in Porto da Fazenda and Tucum colonies, in the northern region, ranged from 1.0 to 4.43 mu g/g, dry weight (median value=1.87 mu/g). We found significant differences among regions (H=57.342; p=0<0.05). Results suggest that permanently flooded areas, or along mainstream rivers are more contaminated by mercury than dry areas, regardless of the distance from the gold mining center, which is located in the northern Pantanal. Highest values found in nestlings feathers were similar to those found in feathers of adult birds and in tissues of adult mammals that are less sedentary and were captured in the same region of Pantanal. These findings indicate that mercury released has been biomagnified and it is present in high concentrations in tissues of top consumers. We suggest a program to monitor mercury availability in this ecosystem using sedentary life forms of top predators like Wood Storks or other piscivorous birds. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 04/09321-5 - Populações de Ciconiiformes (Aves) em áreas úmidas brasileiras: estrutura genética e parentesco
• Beneficiário: Silvia Nassif Del Lama
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa Equipamentos Multiusuários
• Processo FAPESP: 10/50406-5 - Colonização do continente americano pelas populações africanas de garça-vaqueira (Bubulcus ibis): a genética desvendando o processo de bioinvasão
• Beneficiário: Silvia Nassif Del Lama
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 04/15205-8 - Genética de populações de Ciconiiformes (Aves) em áreas úmidas brasileiras
• Beneficiário: Silvia Nassif Del Lama
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 00/02632-4 - Estrutura de populações de Mycteria americana nos ninhais do Pantanal Matogrossense
• Beneficiário: Daniele Cortes Carvalho
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Programa Capacitação - Treinamento Técnico