The team's long term goal is:
Examine the causes, fates, exposures, biological accumulation, and adverse effects (including sublethal effects) of environmental contaminants on animal (largely bird) populations.
Assessing contaminant exposure and effects at Areas of Concern across the Great Lakes
Resource-management and regulatory agencies face many complex problems associated with the contamination of our air, land, water, and biological resources by an array of chemicals originating from agricultural, industrial, municipal, and residential sources. Some contaminants are toxic and can cause stress, injury, or death in exposed organisms at levels present in the environment. Methylmercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) among others are of special concern because they readily accumulate in exposed organisms and can biomagnify to high concentrations in organisms near or at the top of food webs.
The pollution of aquatic and terrestrial environments with toxic contaminants can greatly diminish habitat suitability for biota. Many toxic contaminants do not dissolve readily in water, but instead adhere to small sediment particles. Consequently, the bottom sediments in many water bodies are contaminated with metals, PCBs, and other substances. Once toxic, sediments can remain so for years or decades, greatly hampering ecological recovery. Center studies examine patterns of contamination in terrestrial and aquatic environments, identify factors affecting biological uptake and exposure, assess biological effects, develop and test biological indicators of contaminant exposure, and facilitate the identification of remedial measures.
![Tom Custer installing a tree swallow nest box, April 2012, Black River at Loraine, OH](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/IMG_0717_cc17.jpg?itok=svlRXS6P)
Browse more than 150,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS. Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.
Go to Publications Warehouse
Below are publications associated with this project.
Mercury and other element exposure in tree swallows nesting at low pH and neutral pH lakes in northern Wisconsin USA
Swallows as a sentinel species for contaminant exposure and effect studies
Patterns of organic contaminants in eggs of an insectivorous, an omnivorous, and a piscivorous bird nesting on the Hudson River, New York, USA
Effects of egg order on organic and inorganic element concentrations and egg characteristics in tree swallows, tachycineta bicolor
Polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, furans, and organochlorine pesticides in spotted sandpiper eggs from the upper Hudson River basin, New York
Exposure of insects and insectivorous birds to metals and other elements from abandoned mine tailings in three Summit County drainages, Colorado
PCBs and DDE in tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs and nestlings from an estuarine PCB superfund site, New Bedford Harbor, MA, U.S.A.
Corticosterone stress response in tree swallows nesting near polychlorinated biphenyl- and dioxin-contaminated rivers
Contaminant levels in eggs of American white pelicans, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, from Chase Lake, North Dakota
Relationships of cadmium, mercury, and selenium with nutrient reserves of female lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) during winter and spring migration
Mercury exposure and effects on cavity-nesting birds from the Carson River, Nevada
Water level management and contaminant exposure to tree swallows nesting on the Upper Mississippi River
The team's long term goal is:
Examine the causes, fates, exposures, biological accumulation, and adverse effects (including sublethal effects) of environmental contaminants on animal (largely bird) populations.
Assessing contaminant exposure and effects at Areas of Concern across the Great Lakes
Resource-management and regulatory agencies face many complex problems associated with the contamination of our air, land, water, and biological resources by an array of chemicals originating from agricultural, industrial, municipal, and residential sources. Some contaminants are toxic and can cause stress, injury, or death in exposed organisms at levels present in the environment. Methylmercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) among others are of special concern because they readily accumulate in exposed organisms and can biomagnify to high concentrations in organisms near or at the top of food webs.
The pollution of aquatic and terrestrial environments with toxic contaminants can greatly diminish habitat suitability for biota. Many toxic contaminants do not dissolve readily in water, but instead adhere to small sediment particles. Consequently, the bottom sediments in many water bodies are contaminated with metals, PCBs, and other substances. Once toxic, sediments can remain so for years or decades, greatly hampering ecological recovery. Center studies examine patterns of contamination in terrestrial and aquatic environments, identify factors affecting biological uptake and exposure, assess biological effects, develop and test biological indicators of contaminant exposure, and facilitate the identification of remedial measures.
![Tom Custer installing a tree swallow nest box, April 2012, Black River at Loraine, OH](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/IMG_0717_cc17.jpg?itok=svlRXS6P)
Browse more than 150,000 publications authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS. Publications available are: USGS-authored journal articles, series reports, book chapters, other government publications, and more.
Go to Publications Warehouse
Below are publications associated with this project.