Joshua T. Ackerman
Collin A. Eagles-Smith
2008
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<li>San Francisco Bay is an important wintering and breeding ground for more than 1 million waterbirds annually</li>
<li>Mercury concentrations are highest in birds that eat fish and that reside in the Lower South Bay</li>
<li>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</li>
<li>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</li>
<li>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</li>
<li>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</li>
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San Francisco Estuary Institute
Mercury bioaccumulation and effects on birds in San Francisco Bay
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