Dauwe Tom, Janssens Ellen, Pinxten Rianne, Eens Marcel
Department of Biology, University of Antwerp (Campus Drie Eiken), Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium.
Environ Pollut. 2005 Jul;136(2):243-51. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2005.01.009.
Studying the effects of pollution on the reproductive performance of birds in the natural environment is of increasing importance due to the need to monitor environmental quality biologically. In this study we investigated the reproductive success and the quality of blue tits in four study sites (at 0.1, 1, 2.5 and 4 km from a metallurgic smelter) located within a heavy metal pollution gradient during three consecutive years. At the two sites closest to the pollution source, a significantly higher proportion of females had egg laying interruptions, and the interruptions also lasted longer (although not significantly). Although the hatching success differed significantly among sites, these differences could not be related to differences in pollution levels. Other important breeding parameters such as the start of egg laying, the clutch size and the breeding success did not differ significantly among sites. Our results suggest that exposure to heavy metal pollution did not influence blue tit reproduction in an important way.
由于需要从生物学角度监测环境质量，研究污染对自然环境中鸟类繁殖性能的影响变得越来越重要。在本研究中，我们连续三年调查了位于重金属污染梯度内的四个研究地点（距离冶金冶炼厂0.1、1、2.5和4公里处）的蓝山雀的繁殖成功率和质量。在最靠近污染源的两个地点，有产卵中断情况的雌性比例明显更高，而且中断持续的时间也更长（尽管不显著）。虽然孵化成功率在各地点之间存在显著差异，但这些差异与污染水平的差异并无关联。其他重要的繁殖参数，如产卵开始时间、窝卵数和繁殖成功率，在各地点之间没有显著差异。我们的结果表明，接触重金属污染并没有对蓝山雀的繁殖产生重要影响。
