Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

UMESC - Wildlife Toxicology - Study site locations: North Dakota - Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge

Wildlife Toxicology

Study site locations: North Dakota - Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge

Even though water concentrations of mercury were quite high in waterbodies at Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, it was not bioavailable to organisms such as tree swallows that were nesting and feeding over the wetlands.  There were some differences in mercury bioaccumulation among pond types, but all concentrations remained at non-harmful levels.

 

Mercury in tree swallow eggs
   

Custer, T.W, C.M. Custer, K.M. Johnson, and D.J. Hoffman. 2008. Mercury and other element exposure to tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting on Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota. Environmental Pollution 155:217-226.


Page Last Modified: April 3, 2018