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Mercury contamination in Anna’s hummingbirds

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

Heavy metal contamination (n=17 metals) of feather and tissue samples from live and deceased Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) was evaluated. Feathers taken from live birds are low in sample weight, therefore a novel method was used in feather sample preparation. Feather samples were then analyzed utilizing an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) assay. In addition, ICP-MS was used to measure heavy metal concentrations in feather and tissue samples from salvaged hummingbird carcasses. Iron, zinc, selenium and mercury concentrations were most commonly elevated in body feathers from live birds with mercury being the metal most likely to be found in elevated concentrations. Because of this, we conducted additional analysis for mercury using atomic absorption spectometry, and this is the mercury data available in this dataset. A strong correlation between total mercury concentrations in feathers and in pectoral muscle was found suggesting that sampling feathers from live hummingbirds may prove a validated, useful, non-lethal sampling method for this species in the wild. These data support the following publication: Nicole A. Mikoni, Robert Poppenga, Joshua T. Ackerman, Janet Foley, Jenny Hazlehurst, Güthrum Purdin, Linda Aston, Sabine Hargrave, Karen Jelks, Lisa A. Tell, Trace element contamination in feather and tissue samples from Anna’s hummingbirds, Ecological Indicators, Volume 80, September 2017, Pages 96-105, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.04.053.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date May 31, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date May 31, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/12e5383136a601d83d4628164352548a
Identifier USGS:589b6a61e4b0efcedb72d364
Data Last Modified 20200830
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 8474a89b-eb77-46d1-b291-435fe49ef478
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -123.6785888672,37.173448712,-118.6248779297,39.0618491343
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 289d48dcfe0ad1037ef26d55e2931ef015105d65487520d3854776a7f094f2b5
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -123.6785888672, 37.173448712, -123.6785888672, 39.0618491343, -118.6248779297, 39.0618491343, -118.6248779297, 37.173448712, -123.6785888672, 37.173448712}

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