Fuente: University of Guelph News
Expuesto el: martes, 14 de agosto de 2012 10:08
Autor: University of Guelph News
Asunto: Study Examines Link Between Toxins and Eggshell Colour
| August 14, 2012 - News Release Environmental contaminants can cause birds’ eggs to change colour, offering a possible tool to estimate and monitor environmental toxins, according to a new study by a University of Guelph researcher. Daniel Hanley, a Mitacs Elevate post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Integrative Biology, found that not only can pollutants influence the colour of herring gull eggs, but the colour of these eggshells can predict contaminant load with 84-per-cent accuracy.
The eggs were collected over 40 years by the Canadian Wildlife Service’s Great Lakes herring gull monitoring program – one of the longest-running programs of its kind in the world. Hanley said the research has profound implications for human health. Despite success in reducing concentrations of persistent organic compounds (POC) in the environment, these compounds are still found in many species. If industrial and agricultural chemicals have affected eggs, they’ve probably affected humans too, Hanley says. “The Great Lakes support a variety of industries and are densely populated, which is one reason why the lakes have been contaminated historically,” Hanley said. “These lakes are a way of life and are vital for the entire region. “What we have learned about monitoring contaminants at home may help improve our monitoring efforts across the globe. This may be especially useful in regions with limited access to funding for monitoring efforts. In these regions, people’s survival is often more directly connected with the land and, subsequently, they are even more vulnerable to the contaminants in their food sources.” Measuring egg colour may offer a quick, inexpensive and non-destructive way to monitor areas of concern and evaluate potential human health risks. “However, our paper has broader implications than human health alone. Our aim is to assess the quality of the entire habitat. This is really our duty as stewards of the environment.” The paper appears in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Hanley will be presenting research on the Atlantic Puffin diet at the North American Ornithological Conference, August 15 to 18, in Vancouver. Photo courtesy Donnell Gasbarrini, Royal Ontario Museum.
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