We determined mercury (Hg) concentrations in feathers of osprey (Pandion haliaetus), both nestlings (n = 95) and adults (n = 110), across peninsular Florida and the Florida Keys during February-August 2014. Feathers plucked from nestlings, aged 3-7 weeks, contained Hg concentrations that ranged from 0.338 to 45.79 mg/kg and averaged 6.92 ± 7.58 mg/kg (mean ± 1SD). Feathers shed from adults contained significantly higher concentrations ranging from 0.375 to 93.65 mg/kg, with an average of 17.8 ± 16.1 mg/kg. These levels were in the upper range of previously reported feather Hg concentrations of osprey and clearly show that Florida continues to have Hg hotspots that are elevated compared with many other regions. While these concentrations did not exceed levels previously reported in osprey from heavily Hg contaminated areas that showed no evidence of reproductive impairments, we cannot rule out potential individual-level effects to highly exposed nestlings after fledging. Mercury concentrations in nestlings were highest in coastal habitats of Collier and Monroe counties, where ongoing declines in osprey populations also have been documented.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 05 May 2021.
All research outputs
#5,142,684
of 26,601,477 outputs
Outputs from Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
#231
of 2,160 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#86,240
of 420,934 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
#4
of 26 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,601,477 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 79th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,160 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.7. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 420,934 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 26 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its contemporaries.
