September
13, 2018, Great Hollow Nature Preserve & Ecological Research Center
Migrating
birds today must contend with numerous dangers and challenges that never existed
before, from twirling wind turbines and shiny glass buildings in the sky to
ever-shrinking amounts of stopover habitat and scores of outdoor cats lying in
wait. A report from the Connecticut-based Great Hollow Nature Preserve &
Ecological Research Center is now warning of a new, invisible threat to bird
migration ─ mercury pollution. The article, recently published online in the
journal Ecotoxicology, presents a sobering assessment of the many ways in
which global mercury pollution from coal combustion and other human activities
threatens to interfere with the ability of birds to successfully migrate,
including their ability to navigate, sustain flight for long periods, rapidly
refuel during stopovers, and avoid sickness and oxidative stress.
"Conservation
practitioners are greatly concerned about anthropogenic threats to bird
migration and they are also concerned about the environmental impacts of
pollution, but few people seem to have put two and two together," said
Great Hollow's Executive Director and the author of the study, Chad Seewagen.
"While there have been many studies of the effects of mercury on
reproduction and other endpoints related to fitness and health in birds, we
know practically nothing about its effects on migration compared to other life
cycle events."
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