Examining Bald Eagle Contaminant Exposure and Reproductive Risk Above and Below Dams on Great Lakes Tributaries.

ABSTRACT: Removing lowermost dams can reestablish fish passage on Great Lakes tributaries. This can increase the transfer of contaminants from anadromous fish to piscivorous wildlife upstream; however, concentrations of bioaccumulative contaminants in Great Lakes fish have decreased over the last several decades. We analyzed concentrations of PCBs and the toxic equivalence (TEQs) calculated from PCBs, DDTs, other organochlorine pesticides, and PBDEs in the plasma of bald eagle nestlings above and below lowermost dams on five river systems in Michigan from 1999 to 2013. We examined relationships between contaminants and metrics of reproductive success from 1997 to 2018, including the effects of year and location relative to the lowermost dam. Σ₂₀PCB and p,p'-DDE were important in character

SUBMITTER: Eakin CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11585493 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature