A Review and Assessment of Spent Lead Ammunition and Its Exposure and Effects to Scavenging Birds in the United States

Golden, Nancy H.; Warner, Sarah; Coffey, Michael J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-23573-8_6

Cited by 42 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 166 publications

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“…Cohort sibling nestlings are particularly useful to address this question for a number of reasons. First, they are unlikely to be poisoned by endogenous lead, since they have not lived for long enough to incorporate substantial lead into their bodies (the exception to this is that female birds can deposit lead in their eggs, but such lead is unlikely to be present in blood of the older nestlings we studied here; Blanco et al ., ; Vallverdú‐Coll et al ., ; Golden, Warner & Coffey, ). Second, nestling raptors have almost no access to water and thus drinking poisoned water is an unlikely route of exposure for birds of this age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of lead in populations of raptors

Katzner

Stuber

Slabe

et al. 2017

Animal Conservation

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Although poisoning from anthropogenically derived lead threatens wildlife of many species, routes of lead exposure are unclear and rarely empirically tested. We used blood lead concentration and isotope ratio ( 207 Pb/ 206 Pb) data from populations of four species of raptors from across North America to test hypotheses associated with lead exposure via inhalation versus ingestion. Mean variation in blood lead concentration among cohort siblings was non-zero at nests of ferruginous hawks Buteo regalis and osprey Pandion haliaetus (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001), indicating exposure via episodic ingestion. However, within-nest variation in blood lead concentration was not significantly different from zero among cohort siblings at nests of bald eagles Haliaeetus leucocephalus and golden eagles Aquila chrysaetos (P = 0.014 and P = 0.023), consistent with exposure via continuous inhalation. Isotope ratio data corroborated the lead concentration data and within-nest average and variance of blood lead concentrations were positively correlated (r = 0.70 to 0.94), indicating episodic ingestion. This study provides some of the first empirical population-level data to evaluate mechanisms of lead exposure and demonstrates the importance of lead ingestion to avian predators and scavengers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of lead in populations of raptors

Katzner

Stuber

Slabe

et al. 2017

Animal Conservation

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“…It has been estimated that Pb-based ammunition is the greatest source of Pb that is knowingly discharged into the environment in many post-industrial nations (Bellinger et al 2013). Pb-based ammunition is one of the most prominent and controllable, but largely unregulated, sources of Pb exposure in wild animals (Golden et al 2016). Wildlife shooting is common for invasive and native species in Australia and includes the use of shotguns and rifles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heads in the sand: public health and ecological risks of lead-based bullets for wildlife shooting in Australia

et al. 2018

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Lead (Pb) is a toxic element banned from fuel, paint and many other products in most developed countries. Nonetheless, it is still widely used in ammunition, including rifle bullets, and Pb-based bullets are almost universally used in Australia. For decades, poisoning from Pb shot (shotguns) has been recognised as a cause of disease in waterfowl and Pb shot has been subsequently banned for waterfowl hunting in many jurisdictions. However, the risks posed by Pb-based bullets (rifles) have not been similarly recognised in Australia. Pb-based rifle bullets frequently fragment, contaminating the tissue of shot animals. Consuming this Pb-contaminated tissue risks harmful Pb exposure and, thus, the health of wildlife scavengers (carrion eaters) and humans and their companion animals who consume harvested meat (game eaters). In Europe, North America and elsewhere, the environmental and human health risks of Pb-based bullets are widely recognised, and non-toxic alternatives (e.g. copper-based bullets) are increasingly being used. However, Australia has no comparable research despite widespread use of shooting, common scavenging by potentially susceptible wildlife species, and people regularly consuming shot meat. We conclude that Australia has its collective 'head in the sand' on this pressing worldwide One Health issue. We present the need for urgent research into this field in Australia.

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“…Lead (Pb) exposure in wildlife is a widespread conservation threat that has been documented for decades and recognized in >120 bird species (Goddard et al , Haig et al , Golden et al ), as well as a number of mammalian species (Burco et al , Rogers et al ). Wildlife exposure to Pb is generally determined by measuring Pb concentrations in wildlife tissues such as blood, liver, and kidney (Franson and Pain , Haig et al , Golden et al ), or their prey (Herring et al , McTee et al ). However, blood is the most commonly used nonlethal sampled indicator of short‐term Pb exposure (Redig and Arent , Franson and Pain ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Critically assessing the utility of portable lead analyzers for wildlife conservation

Herring

Eagles‐Smith

Bedrosian³

et al. 2018

Wildl. Soc. Bull.

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Lead (Pb) exposure in wildlife is a widespread management and conservation concern. Quantitative determination of Pb concentrations in wildlife tissues is the foundation for estimating exposure and risk. Development of low-cost, portable instruments has improved access and cost-effectiveness of determining Pb concentrations in blood samples, while also facilitating the ability for wildlife researchers to conduct near real-time Pb testing. However, these instruments, which use anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) methodology, may produce an analytical bias in wildlife-blood Pb concentrations. Additionally, their simplicity invites use without appropriate quality-assurance-quality-control measures. Together, these factors can reduce data quality and hamper the ability to evaluate it, raising concerns about use of these instruments to inform important conservation issues. We document the extent to which this bias is addressed in the wildlife toxicology literature, develop quantitative approaches for correcting the bias, and provide recommendations to ensure robust data quality when using these instruments. Of the 25 studies we reviewed that referenced ASV use for determining Pb exposure in wildlife, only 32% acknowledged the existence of bias from the instrument. Importantly, another 20% of the studies actually reported ASV and spectroscopic-based results together without acknowledging their lack of equivalence. Using a multispecies data set of avian blood Pb concentrations, we found that ASV-based estimates of paired blood Pb concentrations were 30-38% lower than those from standard spectrometric-based methods. We provide regression equations based on this analysis of 453 blood samples to allow users of ASV instruments to adjust Pb concentrations to spectrometricequivalent values, and propose a series of guidelines to follow when using these instruments to improve data validity. Published 2018. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.KEY WORDS anodic stripping voltammetry, blood lead, graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, inductively-coupled mass spectrometry, LeadCare 1 , portable lead analyzer.

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A Review and Assessment of Spent Lead Ammunition and Its Exposure and Effects to Scavenging Birds in the United States

Cited by 42 publications

References 166 publications

Origins of lead in populations of raptors

Origins of lead in populations of raptors

Heads in the sand: public health and ecological risks of lead-based bullets for wildlife shooting in Australia

Critically assessing the utility of portable lead analyzers for wildlife conservation

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