Department of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Veterinary Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, USA.
Abt. Environmental Research, USA.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2017 Dec;146:104-110. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2017.05.012. Epub 2017 May 16.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill contaminated thousands of miles of habitat valuable to hundreds of species of migratory and resident birds of the Gulf of Mexico. Many birds died as a direct result of the oil spill; however, the indirect effects of oil exposure on the flight ability and body condition of birds are difficult to assess in situ. This study utilizes the homing pigeon as a surrogate species for migratory birds to investigate the effect of multiple external oil exposures on the flight performance and body mass change of birds over a series of repeated flights from 136.8km flight distance. Oiled pigeons took significantly longer to return home, lost more weight during flight, and were unable to recover their weight, resulting in reduction of body weight overtime. Based on our data, migratory birds that were oiled, even partially, by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill likely took longer to complete migration and were likely in poor body condition, increasing their risk of mortality and reproductive failure.
墨西哥湾的数千英里生境受到了深水地平线号漏油事件的污染，这些生境对数百种迁徙和留鸟都具有重要价值。许多鸟类直接死于浮油；然而，鸟类暴露在浮油中的间接影响，其在飞行能力和身体状况方面的影响，在现场是难以评估的。本研究利用家鸽作为候鸟的替代物种，调查了多次外部浮油暴露对鸟类在一系列从 136.8 公里的飞行距离的重复飞行中的飞行性能和体重变化的影响。沾油的鸽子花了更长的时间才回家，在飞行中损失了更多的体重，并且无法恢复体重，导致体重随时间减少。根据我们的数据，即使是部分受到深水地平线号浮油污染的候鸟，可能也需要更长的时间才能完成迁徙，而且它们的身体状况可能很差，增加了它们死亡和繁殖失败的风险。
