Mercury in Neotropical birds: a synthesis and prospectus on 13 years of exposure data.

ABSTRACT: Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination of the global tropics outpaces our understanding of its consequences for biodiversity. Knowledge gaps of pollution exposure could obscure conservation threats in the Neotropics: a region that supports over half of the world's species, but faces ongoing land-use change and Hg emission via artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). Due to their global distribution and sensitivity to pollution, birds provide a valuable opportunity as bioindicators to assess how accelerating Hg emissions impact an ecosystem's ability to support biodiversity, and ultimately, global health. We present the largest database on Neotropical bird Hg concentrations (n = 2316) and establish exposure baselines for 322 bird species spanning nine countries across Central America

SUBMITTER: Sayers CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10622370 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature