Accumulation of PCB Congeners in Nestling Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on the Hudson River, New York

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (23) ◽  
pp. 6240-6246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy R. Echols ◽  
Donald E. Tillitt ◽  
John W. Nichols ◽  
Anne L. Secord ◽  
John P. McCarty
2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (23) ◽  
pp. 6234-6239 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Nichols ◽  
Kathy R. Echols ◽  
Donald E. Tillitt ◽  
Anne L. Secord ◽  
John P. McCarty

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok D. Deshpande ◽  
Bruce W. Dockum ◽  
Andrew F.J. Draxler

Contaminant bioaccumulation dynamics was examined in young-of-the-year (YOY) bluefish subpopulations (Pomatomus saltatrix) in the New York Bight ecosystem, and the results were used to assess (i) effects of habitat quality in terms of levels of PCBs and pesticides on bluefish condition and (ii) fidelity of YOY bluefish to different subestuaries that served as the nurseries subsequent to recruitment during their first summer. Total PCBs and p,p′-DDE body burdens increased with fish length, but concentrations generally increased only poorly to moderately, which suggested steady-state contaminant uptake commensurate with aggressive feeding and dilution related to rapid growth characteristic of YOY bluefish within a subestuary. High condition factors paired with elevated contamination levels in bluefish from the Lower Hudson River, as compared with bluefish from Newark Bay with poor condition factors paired with elevated contamination levels, suggested that PCBs and pesticides alone may not determine condition in these fish. We found dissimilar patterns of prominent PCB congeners in bluefish from adjacent subestuaries (e.g., Newark Bay and Lower Hudson River) suggesting separate contaminant sources. Total PCB normalized fingerprints of PCB congeners permitted statistical discrimination among YOY bluefish specimens from various estuaries with a potential to differentiate subpopulations on scales to less than 20 km. This unexpected fidelity to nursery estuaries may have implications for the management strategies.


2007 ◽  
Vol 85 (8) ◽  
pp. 847-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.R. Ardia

In species with biparental care, males tend to invest less in offspring than do females, likely because of differences in the costs and benefits associated with parental effort. Here I test for sex differences in the response of tree swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot, 1808)) to a brood-size manipulation at two locations differing in food resources, Alaska and New York. I tested sex and habitat differences in how swallows responded to changes in offspring demand. At both sites, both sexes increased effort when feeding enlarged broods, although Alaskan males increased feeding less than Alaskan females. Males decreased feeding effort more to reduced broods than females, but only in Alaska. Food abundance was higher in Alaska than in New York, and Alaskan tree swallows made more feeding visits than New York tree swallows. In New York, food availability did not predict feeding rate and there was no sex difference in the response to brood manipulation. In both sites, male feeding effort was linked with nestling residual body mass, while female feeding effort was correlated with nestling growth rate. This study demonstrates that male tree swallows differ from females by being the first to reduce feeding effort under certain conditions and that male and female feeding rate affects offspring quality differently.


1999 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 2519-2525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne L. Secord ◽  
John P. McCarty ◽  
Kathy R. Echols ◽  
John C. Meadows ◽  
Robert W. Gale ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (13) ◽  
pp. 4516-4524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenz Adrian ◽  
Vlasta Dudková ◽  
Katařina Demnerová ◽  
Donna L. Bedard

ABSTRACT “Dehalococcoides” sp. strain CBDB1 in pure culture dechlorinates a wide range of PCB congeners with three to eight chlorine substituents. Congener-specific high-resolution gas chromatography revealed that CBDB1 extensively dechlorinated both Aroclor 1248 and Aroclor 1260 after four months of incubation. For example, 16 congeners comprising 67.3% of the total PCBs in Aroclor 1260 were decreased by 64%. We confirmed the dechlorination of 43 different PCB congeners. The most prominent dechlorination products were 2,3′,5-chlorinated biphenyl (25-3-CB) and 24-3-CB from Aroclor 1248 and 235-25-CB, 25-25-CB, 24-25-CB, and 235-236-CB from Aroclor 1260. Strain CBDB1 removed flanked para chlorines from 3,4-, 2,4,5-, and 3,4,5-chlorophenyl rings, primarily para chlorines from 2,3,4,5-chlorophenyl rings, primarily meta chlorines from 2,3,4- and 2,3,4,6-chlorophenyl rings, and either meta or para chlorines from 2,3,4,5,6-chlorophenyl rings. The site of attack on the 2,3,4-chorophenyl ring was heavily influenced by the chlorine configuration on the opposite ring. This dechlorination pattern matches PCB Process H dechlorination, which was previously observed in situ both in the Acushnet Estuary (New Bedford, MA) and in parts of the Hudson River (New York). Accordingly, we propose that Dehalococcoides bacteria similar to CBDB1 are potential agents of Process H PCB dechlorination in the environment. This is the first time that a complex naturally occurring PCB dechlorination pattern has been reproduced in the laboratory using a single bacterial strain.


2005 ◽  
Vol 156 (8) ◽  
pp. 288-296
Author(s):  
Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani

In the first half of the 19th century scientific philosophers in the United States, such as Emerson and Thoreau, began to pursue the relationship between man and nature. Painters from the Hudson River School discovered the rural spaces to the north of New York and began to celebrate the American landscape in their paintings. In many places at this time garden societies were founded, which generated widespread support for the creation of park enclosures While the first such were cemeteries with the character of parks, housing developments on the peripheries of towns were later set in generous park landscapes. However, the centres of the growing American cities also need green spaces and the so-called «park movement»reached a first high point with New York's Central Park. It was not only an experimental field for modern urban elements, but even today is a force of social cohesion.


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