Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data

Environmental trace element composition can have an important impact on ecosystem and population health as well individual fitness. Therefore, carefully assessing bioaccumulation of trace elements is central to studies investigating the ecological impact of pollution. Colonial birds are important bi...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Borghesi, Fabrizio, Dinelli, E., Migani, Francesca, Bechet, A., Rendón-Martos, Manuel, Amat, Juan A., Sommer, Simone, Gilliham, M.A.F.
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Data de publicação:2017
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositório:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/155973
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/155973
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Feather
External contamination
Geochemical interpretation
Birds
Trace elements
Environmental pollution
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spelling Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment dataBorghesi, FabrizioDinelli, E.Migani, FrancescaBechet, A.Rendón-Martos, ManuelAmat, Juan A.Sommer, SimoneGilliham, M.A.F.FeatherExternal contaminationGeochemical interpretationBirdsTrace elementsEnvironmental pollutionEnvironmental trace element composition can have an important impact on ecosystem and population health as well individual fitness. Therefore, carefully assessing bioaccumulation of trace elements is central to studies investigating the ecological impact of pollution. Colonial birds are important bioindicators since non-invasive sampling can easily be achieved through sampling of chick feathers, which controls for some confounding factors of variability (age and environmental heterogeneity). However, an additional confounding factor, external contamination (ExCo), which remains even after washing feathers, has frequently been overlooked in the literature. We developed a new method to reliably interpret bioaccumulation of 10 trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn and Zn) in feathers using chicks of a colonial species: the Greater Flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus. First, only shafts were used to remove ExCo retained in vanes. Secondly, we applied a thorough washing procedure. Thirdly, we applied a new analytical method to control for ExCo, which assumes that ExCo is mainly due to adhered sediment particles and that the relative concentration of each trace element will be similar to the sediment geochemical composition of sampling sites. We validated this new methodology by comparing trace element composition and particle composition (by scanning electron microscopy and mass spectrometry) of washed and unwashed feathers. The washing procedure removed >99% of K indicating that most of the ExCo from salt was removed. Scanning electron microscopy and mass spectrometry revealed that some sediment particles remained after washing, especially clays which are likely to severely bias bioaccumulation interpretation. We successfully controlled for ExCo by calculating the ratio of ExCo due to sediment using the geochemical fingerprint of sediment samples. Our methodology leads to conservative estimates of bioaccumulation for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn and Zn. We have validated a new more reliable method of analysing trace element concentrations in feathers, which effectively controls for ExCo, if geochemical sediment data can be meaningfully compared to ExCo of feathers. We have demonstrated that overlooking ExCo leads to potentially erroneous conclusions, and we urge that the method applied in this study be considered in future studies.Peer ReviewedJohn Wiley & SonsConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]2017201720172017info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Postprintinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/155973reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)InglésSíinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1559732026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data
title Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data
spellingShingle Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data
Borghesi, Fabrizio
Feather
External contamination
Geochemical interpretation
Birds
Trace elements
Environmental pollution
title_short Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data
title_full Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data
title_fullStr Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data
title_full_unstemmed Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data
title_sort Assessing environmental pollution in birds: a new methodological approach for interpreting bioaccumulation of trace elements in feather shafts using geochemical sediment data
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Borghesi, Fabrizio
Dinelli, E.
Migani, Francesca
Bechet, A.
Rendón-Martos, Manuel
Amat, Juan A.
Sommer, Simone
Gilliham, M.A.F.
author Borghesi, Fabrizio
author_facet Borghesi, Fabrizio
Dinelli, E.
Migani, Francesca
Bechet, A.
Rendón-Martos, Manuel
Amat, Juan A.
Sommer, Simone
Gilliham, M.A.F.
author_role author
author2 Dinelli, E.
Migani, Francesca
Bechet, A.
Rendón-Martos, Manuel
Amat, Juan A.
Sommer, Simone
Gilliham, M.A.F.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Feather
External contamination
Geochemical interpretation
Birds
Trace elements
Environmental pollution
topic Feather
External contamination
Geochemical interpretation
Birds
Trace elements
Environmental pollution
description Environmental trace element composition can have an important impact on ecosystem and population health as well individual fitness. Therefore, carefully assessing bioaccumulation of trace elements is central to studies investigating the ecological impact of pollution. Colonial birds are important bioindicators since non-invasive sampling can easily be achieved through sampling of chick feathers, which controls for some confounding factors of variability (age and environmental heterogeneity). However, an additional confounding factor, external contamination (ExCo), which remains even after washing feathers, has frequently been overlooked in the literature. We developed a new method to reliably interpret bioaccumulation of 10 trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn and Zn) in feathers using chicks of a colonial species: the Greater Flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus. First, only shafts were used to remove ExCo retained in vanes. Secondly, we applied a thorough washing procedure. Thirdly, we applied a new analytical method to control for ExCo, which assumes that ExCo is mainly due to adhered sediment particles and that the relative concentration of each trace element will be similar to the sediment geochemical composition of sampling sites. We validated this new methodology by comparing trace element composition and particle composition (by scanning electron microscopy and mass spectrometry) of washed and unwashed feathers. The washing procedure removed >99% of K indicating that most of the ExCo from salt was removed. Scanning electron microscopy and mass spectrometry revealed that some sediment particles remained after washing, especially clays which are likely to severely bias bioaccumulation interpretation. We successfully controlled for ExCo by calculating the ratio of ExCo due to sediment using the geochemical fingerprint of sediment samples. Our methodology leads to conservative estimates of bioaccumulation for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn and Zn. We have validated a new more reliable method of analysing trace element concentrations in feathers, which effectively controls for ExCo, if geochemical sediment data can be meaningfully compared to ExCo of feathers. We have demonstrated that overlooking ExCo leads to potentially erroneous conclusions, and we urge that the method applied in this study be considered in future studies.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017
2017
2017
2017
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Postprint
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/155973
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/155973
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv John Wiley & Sons
publisher.none.fl_str_mv John Wiley & Sons
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,228081

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