Protocol for Monitoring Environmental Contaminants in Bald Eagles - Version 1.2: Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network

Route B, Bowerman W, Kozie K. 2009. Protocol for Monitoring Environmental Contaminants in Bald Eagles - Version 1.2: Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network. Natural Resource Report. NPS/GLKN/NRR—2009/092. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado

This protocol details the objectives, study design, and reporting requirements for monitoring levels of targeted environmental contaminants in national parks in the western Great Lakes region of the United States. Detailed methods are in standard operating procedures. The protocol involves taking blood and feather samples from bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nestlings to monitor trends in contaminants that are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBTs) to fish, wildlife, and humans. The monitoring will take place at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (APIS), Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MISS), and the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway (SACN). A companion protocol involves sampling fish for contaminants at six other national parks in the region (Wiener et al. 2008). Both programs are part of a nation-wide effort by the U. S. National Park Service (NPS) to provide park managers with scientifically sound data to manage natural resources under their care. The monitoring is funded and conducted by the NPS Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network. Human-made contaminants that are released into water, air, or on land often end up in aquatic systems through aerial deposition, runoff, and ground water. Bald eagles are high on the aquatic food web and are known to accumulate PBTs to high levels. Hence they sample the aquatic environment and act as integrators of human-made contaminants. This protocol will be repeated minimally on a two-years-on and two-years-off cycle. Depending on funding levels and contributions from partners, we may be able to sample during the intervening gap years. We will target six contaminants that are causing impairment to water bodies within the three parks or which have been identified by regulatory agencies as emerging contaminants of concern. The six contaminants are: Lead, PCBs (total and 75 congeners), Mercury (total), PBDEs (total and 9 congeners), DDT (including DDE & DDD), PFCs (total and 16 telomers). Specifically, the monitoring program is designed to answer the following questions: 1. What is the direction and magnitude of change in concentrations of DDT (including metabolites DDE and DDD), total PCBs, total PFCs, and PBDEs in blood plasma, and of total mercury and lead in feathers, from nestling bald eagles within the three parks? 2. What is the incidence of developmental deformities observed in live and dead nestlings of bald eagles within the three parks? 3. What is the direction and magnitude of change in the number of young produced per occupied bald eagle nest within the three parks?

Type
Published Report
Authors
Route, Bill; Bowerman, William; Kozie, Karin
Date of Issue
2009-02
Publisher
National Park Service
Units
APIS , GLKN , IMDP , MISS , NRSS , SACN
Keywords
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Bald Eagle, Contaminant Protocol, Contaminants, Great Lakes, Great Lakes Network, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, monitoring protocol, Productivity, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway
Subjects
Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Toxics , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Birds , Ecological Framework: Human Use | Point-Source Human Effects | Point-Source Human Effects , Ecological Framework: Human Use | Non-point Source Human Effects | Non-point Source Human Effects

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