Franceschini Melinda D, Lane Oksana P, Evers David C, Reed J Michael, Hoskins Bart, Romero L Michael
Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
Ecotoxicology. 2009 Jul;18(5):514-21. doi: 10.1007/s10646-009-0309-2. Epub 2009 Apr 10.
We determined mercury concentrations in tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, from Massachusetts and Maine with different levels of contamination. Baseline and stress-induced plasma corticosterone concentrations from adults and nestlings (Massachusetts only) were compared with mercury concentrations. In Massachusetts, adult baseline corticosterone was negatively correlated with blood mercury, but showed a nearly-significant positive correlation with feather mercury. There was a negative relationship between baseline corticosterone and blood mercury in nestlings and between baseline corticosterone and egg mercury. There was no relationship between mercury and stress-induced corticosterone in any of the groups, or with baseline corticosterone in Maine sites where mercury levels were lower. The findings suggest blood and egg mercury may be a better indicator of current condition than feather mercury. Further, mercury contamination may not alter stress-induced corticosterone concentrations in tree swallows but appears to have a significant impact on baseline circulating corticosterone.
我们测定了来自马萨诸塞州和缅因州、受不同程度污染地区的双色树燕体内的汞浓度。将成年鸟和雏鸟（仅马萨诸塞州的）的基础和应激诱导血浆皮质酮浓度与汞浓度进行了比较。在马萨诸塞州，成年鸟的基础皮质酮与血液汞含量呈负相关，但与羽毛汞含量呈近显著正相关。雏鸟的基础皮质酮与血液汞含量之间以及基础皮质酮与卵汞含量之间存在负相关关系。在任何组中，汞与应激诱导的皮质酮之间均无关系，在汞含量较低的缅因州地区，汞与基础皮质酮之间也无关系。研究结果表明，血液和卵汞含量可能比羽毛汞含量更能反映当前状况。此外，汞污染可能不会改变双色树燕应激诱导的皮质酮浓度，但似乎对基础循环皮质酮有显著影响。
