Institute of High Mountain Biology, University of Žilina, Tatranská Javorina 7, 059 56, Tatranská Javorina, Slovakia.
State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2024 Apr;31(18):26527-26535. doi: 10.1007/s11356-024-32673-8. Epub 2024 Mar 6.
In this study, mercury (Hg) concentrations were detected in feathers of golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), a bird that typically inhabits alpine and forest areas. The mercury rates in feathers were compared in two groups of eagles: first, estimated home range (breeding, hunting, etc.) was located only in forest and lowland meadow habitats; second, the home range also included alpine habitats-rocks and meadows. Consequently, mercury concentration based on the feather typology were observed and the mercury levels in feathers were also compared among different Slovak Western Carpathian districts. It was found that there was no significant difference between groups classified by elevation level, which we attribute to the fact that eagle hunting territories are broad, so that alpine-dwelling and forest-dwelling eagles do not only reflect the pollution of the environments they typically inhabit. Non-significant differences were found also within different feather types, which means that the type of feather is not crucial for tracking mercury in eagle feathers. As the measurement of feather appears to be a simple and non-invasive method, the detection of non-significant differences in diverse types of golden eagle feathers provides useful knowledge for the future environment monitoring. The average mercury concentration measured in eagle samples was lower than the mercury concentration causing health complications among birds of prey. Our assumption that due to past mining activity in the Spiš region, the highest concentration in this region would be observed was confirmed.
在这项研究中，检测了金雕（Aquila chrysaetos）羽毛中的汞（Hg）浓度。金雕通常栖息在高山和森林地区。将两组金雕的羽毛汞含量进行了比较：第一组，估计的巢区（繁殖、狩猎等）仅位于森林和低地草地生境中；第二组巢区还包括高山生境——岩石和草地。因此，观察了基于羽毛类型的汞浓度，并比较了不同斯洛伐克西喀尔巴阡山脉地区羽毛中的汞水平。结果发现，根据海拔水平分类的两组之间没有显著差异，我们认为这是因为金雕的狩猎领地很广，因此高山和森林栖息的金雕不仅反映了它们通常栖息的环境的污染。不同羽毛类型之间也没有发现显著差异，这意味着羽毛类型对于跟踪金雕羽毛中的汞并不重要。由于羽毛的测量似乎是一种简单且非侵入性的方法，因此在不同类型的金雕羽毛中检测到的非显著差异为未来的环境监测提供了有用的知识。在鹰样本中测量到的平均汞浓度低于导致猛禽健康并发症的汞浓度。我们假设由于过去在斯皮什地区的采矿活动，该地区的汞浓度最高，这一假设得到了证实。
