Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Highlights
- San Francisco Bay is an important wintering and breeding ground for more than 1 million waterbirds annually
- Mercury concentrations are highest in birds that eat fish and that reside in the Lower South Bay
- When Forster’s terns arrive in the Bay in spring to breed, mercury concentrations in their blood increase by four-fold in a six week period
- Based on mercury concentrations in blood, nearly 60% of all breeding Forster’s terns sampled in the Bay are at high risk of toxic effects
- One important piece of evidence of impairment of reproduction in Forster’s terns is that average mercury concentrations in failed to-hatch eggs were statistically significantly higher than in randomly selected eggs
- Avian eggs represent an ideal matrix for assessing bioaccumulation because they are indicative of short-term, localized exposure and are central to predicting risk in multiple lifestages
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Title | Mercury bioaccumulation and effects on birds in San Francisco Bay |
| Year Published | 2008 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | San Francisco Estuary Institute |
| Publisher location | Oakland, CA |
| Contributing office(s) | Western Ecological Research Center |
| Description | 9 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Report |
| Larger Work Title | The pulse of the estuary: Monitoring and managing water quality in the San Francisco estuary |
| First page | 56 |
| Last page | 64 |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Other Geospatial | San Francisco Bay |
| Online Only (Y/N) | N |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |