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    • Mercury contamination in Anna’s hummingbirds

    Metadata Updated: November 12, 2025

    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 September 12, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date November 12, 2025

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date November 12, 2025
    Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
    Maintainer
    Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-589b6a61e4b0efcedb72d364
    Data Last Modified 2020-08-30T00:00:00Z
    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://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-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 3a044d93-ddf1-4089-ab50-c51c67957958
    Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
    Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial -123.6785888672, 37.173448712, -118.6248779297, 39.0618491343
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 210370914459489271f8d0df35fa2f4e993dac8489bcf7c911c2b05ea9821b6e
    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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