Levels of metals in Caracara plancus nestlings near an oil production plant"

SAGGESE MD; ELLIS DH; GIL R; ORTEGA NE; QUAGLIA A; MORRISON J; CID FD; BACH NC; NELSON RW; AMOROS M

San Luis

Congreso; XXXVII Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2019

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

In Southern Patagonia, Argentina, one of the main production activities is the oil and gas industry. This type of industry is has been associated to increased heavy metals concentrations in the surrounding environment and biota. Birds are widely used to assess metal pollution in the environment, usually by determining heavy metals in blood, a non-invasive method. The objective of this study was to determine the levels of selected metals in the blood of the Southern Caracara (Caracara plancus) nestlings and evaluate the relationship between these levels and the distance between their nests and an oil production plant in Guer Aike Department, Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Blood samples were collected from 26 nestlings, between 3 and 6 weeks old, belonging to 8 Southern Caracaras? nests on November - December 2010 and December 2011. Blood levels of Pb, As, Zn, Se, Ni, Cu, Cr and V were determined using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Relation of blood heavy metal levels and the distance to the oil production plant was evaluated by a linear regression for each metal and date of sampling. Linear correlation of Pearson was performed to assess the relationship between metals blood concentrations. Additionally, a repeated measure analysis of variance (RMANOVA) was performed to compare the blood metals levels of nestlings between sampling sites. Associations were found between the blood levels of As, V and Cr and between Zn, V and Cr. No relationship was found between the distance to the oil production plant and the concentration of heavy metals in blood of Southern Caracara nestlings (p > 0.05). There was no difference in the concentrations of metals between sites (RMANOVA p > 0.05). In conclusion, the results of this study provide evidence that Southern Caracara nestlings are exposed to these metals, although the distance of the nests to the oil plant did not relate with variations in their blood levels. This is the first report of the blood levels of heavy metals in nestlings of C. plancus inhabiting Southern Argentine Patagonia and constitutes the baseline that provides a diagnosis of the environmental situation and alerts on the exposure of other species to these potentially toxic compounds.