Reproductive success of passerines exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls through the terrestrial food web of the Kalamazoo River

Abstract

The eastern bluebird ( Sialia sialis) and the house wren ( Troglodytes aedon) were identified as ecological receptors of concern due to exposure and potential effects stemming from polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination in floodplain soils of the Kalamazoo River Superfund Site, Michigan, USA. Measures of population health were compared at a contaminated and a less-contaminated reference location. During this 3-year study, productivity of bluebirds was significantly less at the downstream location than at the reference location. Hatching success, clutch size, and predicted brood size were significantly less in early clutches of house wrens at the more contaminated location than at the upstream reference location, but fledging success was significantly greater at the contaminated location. Studies concurrent to the study presented here reported that concentrations of PCBs in the tissues and diets of the passerine birds were less than the predicted threshold for adverse effects. The results of our study, taken along with the measured exposure data, suggest that other factors in addition to PCB exposure such as habitat, prey availability, small sample size, and cocontaminants were likely causes of the differences that were observed at the two locations.