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USE OF THE GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM TO INVESTIGATE MERCURY LEVELS IN CORRELATION WITH POSTMORTEM FINDINGS OF ASPERGILLUS INDUCED LESIONS IN THE COMMON LOON (GAVIA IMMER) IN THE NORTHEASTERN USA
Citation:
Mayer, J., R Haebler, R. Miconi, M. Pokras, AND R. Poppengay. USE OF THE GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM TO INVESTIGATE MERCURY LEVELS IN CORRELATION WITH POSTMORTEM FINDINGS OF ASPERGILLUS INDUCED LESIONS IN THE COMMON LOON (GAVIA IMMER) IN THE NORTHEASTERN USA. Presented at American Waterbird Society Annual Meeting, Plymouth, MA, November 2, 2000.
Description:
This study employed the Geographic Information System (GIS) to correlate total mercury levels in liver tissue with post-mortem findings of aspergillosis in common loons (Gavia immer) in the northeast United States of America (USA). Aspergillosis is an opportunistic fungal infection of the pulmonary system associated with chronic stress and immune suppression. Post-mortem reports from 107 loons found dead in the New England states were reviewed. Information on the location of the bird collection sites was entered into a GIS data system to obtain the geographic distribution. Post-mortem tissue mercury levels were then added to the database and a regional area of high tissue mercury levels was identified. When the New England samples were analyzed as a whole, they did not show any statistical correlation between tissue mercury levels and the incidence of aspergillosis. When the data for the birds from the high mercury level area were analyzed against the data from the lower mercury level area birds, there was no statistically significant correlation with the occurrence of aspergillosis. This study suggests that it is not possible to associate tissue mercury levels to post-mortem findings of aspergillosis in this common loon population.