ArticleEcotoxicology (London, England)2020
Songbird feathers as indicators of mercury exposure: high variability and low predictive power suggest limitations.
Article in Ecotoxicology (London, England), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Home range size and foraging niche predict lead exposure variability in terrestrial birds.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Evaluation of Mercury Contamination in Chickens (Gallus gallus) and Soils in an Artisanal Gold Mining Area in San Martin De Loba, Bolivar, Colombia.Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology · 2025Article
- Article
- Mercury in Neotropical birds: a synthesis and prospectus on 13 years of exposure data.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2023Review
- Mercury toxicity risk and corticosterone levels across the breeding range of the Yellow-breasted Chat.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2022Article
- Reconstructing avian mercury concentrations through time using museum specimens from New York State.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2020Article
- The impact of mercury on North American songbirds: effects, trends, and predictive factors.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2020Article
- Historical patterns in mercury exposure for North American songbirds.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2020Article
- Mercury exposure to swallows breeding in Canada inferred from feathers grown on breeding and non-breeding grounds.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although feathers are commonly used to monitor mercury (Hg) in avian populations, their reliability as a sampling matrix has not been thoroughly assessed for many avian species, including most songbirds (Order Passeriformes). To better understand relationships between total Hg (THg) concentrations in feathers and other tissues for birds in the thrush and sparrow families, we (1) examined variation in THg concentrations among tissues, including feathers from six different tracts, nails, liver, and muscle; (2) tested relationships between THg concentrations in the various feather tracts and those in internal tissues from the same birds, to assess the predictive power of feather THg, and; (3) compared these relationships to those between THg concentrations in nails and internal tissues, to assess the viability of nails as a non-lethal sampling alternative. THg concentrations in all feather tracts and nails were consistently higher than those in the liver and muscle, and THg was higher in the thrushes than the sparrows. When comparing feather tracts, we observed high variation within some individuals, suggesting that estimates of Hg exposure could vary depending on which feather was sampled. Despite this variation, feather type had little effect on the predictive power of feather THg concentrations, which ranged from extremely weak in the sparrows (0.09 ≤ R
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