PARENT SESSION
4F Alternatives for risk assessment in terrestrial ecosystems
9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, Monday, 07 May 2001

(M/MF149) Metallic Elements and Metal Poisonings among White-tailed Sea Eagles from the Baltic South Coast.

Szymczyk, Katarzyna^1,2, Falandysz, Jerzy¹, Ichihashi, Hideki³, Yamasaki, San-Ichi⁴, Mizera, Tadeusz⁵, ^{1 2 3 4 5}

ABSTRACT- We have attempted to determine current exposure of white-tailed sea eagles from the Baltic coast and inland Poland to metallic elements by chemical analyses of the critical organs of autopsied specimens. Eagles were found dead and were collected in northwestern and western part of Poland in 1991-1995. Two of the eagles examined died because of electrocution and for the eight other birds the cause of death at the time of dissection was unknown.K, Na, Mg, Ca and Fe, that are found in liver and kidneys in relatively high concentration, were determined with the aid of ICP-AES, and the other 30 elements with the aid of double focused HR-ICP-MS and an ultrasonic nebulizer. One of the eagles examined contained lead in liver and kidneys in concentration of 40 and 48 ug/g dry weight (14 and 17 ug/g wet weight) and apparently have died because of lead poisoning. Lead concentration in their livers and kidneys of nine other sea eagles ranged between 0.48-1.3 and 0.19-1.9 ug/g dry weight. Cadmium concentration in liver and kidneys of birds examined ranged between 0.015-0.41 and 0.029-4.4 ug/g dry weight, respectively. Those concentrations apparently result from background exposure to cadmium and are low to induce any acute or subacute toxic effects. Two white-tailed sea eagles contained mercury in extremely high concentration in their kidneys, i.e. 190 and 220 ug/g dry weight, and for three other specimens it was between 22 and 49 ug/g. Five less contaminated birds contained in kidneys between 1.4 and 7.3 ug Hg/g dry weight. Two sea eagles highly contaminated with mercury originated from the breeding sites at the Baltic coast. Other toxic or potentially toxic metals such as arsenic, thallium or silver were quantified in low concentrations both in liver and kidneys indicating on exposure of the white-tailed sea eagles only to background concentrations of that elements. The concentrations of many essential and nonessential elements determined in liver and kidneys of white-tailed sea eagles in this study seem to be physiological. Nevertheless, apart from copper, iron, manganese, nickel and zinc determined in a few specimens examined earlier by other authors there was no data available for the purpose of comparison.

Key words: Eagle, lead, elements, poisoning