Blood biochemistry and hematology of adult and chick brown pelicans in the northern Gulf of Mexico: baseline health values and ecological relationships.

ABSTRACT: The northern Gulf of Mexico supports a diverse community of nearshore seabirds during both breeding and nonbreeding periods of the annual cycle and is also a highly industrialized marine ecosystem with substantial levels of oil and gas development particularly in the west and central regions. Stakeholders in the region often assess risk to species of interest based on these differing levels of development. We collected blood samples from 81 adult and 35 chick eastern brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis carolinensis) from 10 colonies across the northern Gulf of Mexico and used these to establish baseline values for hematology and blood biochemistry. We assessed the potential influence of body condition, sex and home range size on hematology and blood biochemistry. We also assessed

SUBMITTER: Jodice PGR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9492288 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature