Chemicals that haven’t been manufactured in the U.S. for years or even decades are still turning up in the bodies of migratory terns in the Great Lakes region, a new study finds.
Chemicals that haven’t been manufactured in the U.S. for years or even decades are still turning up in the bodies of migratory terns in the Great Lakes region, a new study finds.
The research focused on three types of compounds: polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and the breakdown products, called metabolites, of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT).
Scientists discovered all three kinds of chemicals in the organs of over two dozen common terns in breeding grounds along the Niagara River and the shore of Lake Erie. The pollutants were found at various life stages, in chicks, in juveniles and in adults.
Read more at: University at Buffalo
University at Buffalo researcher Steven Travis cracks an abandoned tern egg into a beaker. Though the new study published in Environment International focuses on common tern chicks, juveniles and adults, Travis and colleagues have begun work on a study examining the levels of pollutants in the eggs of common terns and other wild aquatic birds. (Photo Credit: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki / University at Buffalo)
