Migrating Tundra Peregrine Falcons accumulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons along Gulf of Mexico following Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Monitoring internal crude oil exposure can assist the understanding of associated risks and impacts, as well as the effectiveness of restoration efforts. Under the auspices of a long-term monitoring program of Tundra Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus tundrius) at Assateague (Maryland) and South Padre Islands (Texas), we measured the 16 parent (unsubstituted) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), priority pollutants identified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and components of crude oil, in peripheral blood cells of migrating Peregrine Falcons from 2009 to 2011. The study was designed to assess the spatial and temporal trends of crude oil exposure associated with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill which started 20 April 2010 and was capped on 15 July of that year.

The use of genetics for the management of a recovering population: temporal assessment of migratory peregrine falcons in North America.

Background: Our ability to monitor populations or species that were once threatened or endangered and in the process of recovery is enhanced by using genetic methods to assess overall population stability and size over time. This can be accomplished most directly by obtaining genetic measures from temporally-spaced samples that reflect the overall stability of the population as given by changes in genetic diversity levels (allelic richness and heterozygosity), degree of population differentiation (F(ST) and D(EST)), and effective population size (N(e)). The primary goal of any recovery effort is to produce a long-term self-sustaining population, and these genetic measures provide a metric by which we can gauge our progress and help make important management decisions.

Wintering area DDE source to migratory white-faced ibis revealed by satellite telemetry and prey sampling.

Locations of contaminant exposure for nesting migratory species are difficult to fully understand because of possible additional sources encountered during migration or on the wintering grounds. A portion of the migratory white-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi) nesting at Carson Lake, Nevada continues to be exposed to dichloro-diphenyldichloro-ethylene (DDE) with no change, which is unusual, observed in egg concentrations between 1985 and 2000. About 45-63% of the earliest nesting segment shows reduced reproductive success correlated with elevated egg concentrations of >4 microg/g wet weight (ww).