Burger J, Gochfeld M
Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey.
Fundam Appl Toxicol. 1994 Nov;23(4):553-61. doi: 10.1006/faat.1994.1140.
Lead is ubiquitous in the environment, and trace amounts enter the food chain and bioaccumulate in organisms high on the food chain. Although lead levels have been examined in a variety of wild species, effects data are usually from laboratory studies. Thus the relevance of effects to survival and fitness are not directly determined. In the field we compared the behavior of lead-injected young herring gulls (Larus argentatus) to the behavior of their control siblings who received an injection with no lead and to chicks from control nests that received no injections. Lead-injected chicks had significantly lower survival rates than all controls. Lead-injected chicks were less healthy than control chicks as measured by begging and walking scores and by the number of times they stumbled when walking. Control chicks had a higher degree of accuracy when pecking at their parents' bills to stimulate feeding compared to the lead-injected chicks. For all chicks, begging and walking scores improved with age. Behavioral deficits measured in the laboratory are homologous with those observed in the field.
铅在环境中无处不在，微量的铅进入食物链并在食物链顶端的生物体内生物累积。尽管已经对多种野生物种中的铅含量进行了检测，但效应数据通常来自实验室研究。因此，效应与生存和健康状况之间的相关性并未直接确定。在野外，我们将注射了铅的幼年银鸥（Larus argentatus）的行为与其接受无铅注射的对照同胞的行为以及来自未注射的对照巢穴的雏鸟的行为进行了比较。注射了铅的雏鸟的存活率明显低于所有对照组。通过乞食和行走得分以及行走时绊倒的次数来衡量，注射了铅的雏鸟不如对照雏鸟健康。与注射了铅的雏鸟相比，对照雏鸟在啄父母的喙以刺激喂食时具有更高的准确性。对于所有雏鸟来说，乞食和行走得分都随着年龄的增长而提高。在实验室中测量到的行为缺陷与在野外观察到的行为缺陷是同源的。
