Capparella, Faculty Advisor, A. P.

Frick, Faculty Advisor, J. A.

Harper, Faculty Advisor, R. G.

Klemens, J. A.

Richardson, Heidi B.

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Illinois Wesleyan UniversityDigital Commons @ IWUJohn Wesley Powell Student ResearchConference 1998, 9th Annual JWP ConferenceApr 18th, 1:30 PM - 2:30 PMPatterns of Organochlorine PesticideContamination in Neotropical Migrant PasserinesHeidi B. RichardsonIllinois Wesleyan UniversityJ. A. KlemensIllinois Wesleyan UniversityR. G. Harper, Faculty AdvisorIllinois Wesleyan UniversityJ. A. Frick, Faculty AdvisorIllinois Wesleyan UniversityA. P. Capparella, Faculty AdvisorIllinois Wesleyan UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprcThis Event is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and FacultyDevelopment, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU bythe faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu.edu.©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.Heidi B. Richardson; J. A. Klemens; R. G. Harper, Faculty Advisor; J. A. Frick, Faculty Advisor; and A. P. Capparella,Faculty Advisor, "Patterns of Organochlorine Pesticide Contamination in Neotropical Migrant Passerines" (April 18, 1998).John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference. Paper 12.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprc/1998/posters2/12THE JOHN WESLEY POWELL STUDENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE " APRIL 1998 Poster Presentation 30 PATTERNS OF ORGANOCHLORINE PESTICIDE CONTAMINATION IN NEOTROPICAL MIGRANT PASSERINES Heidi B. Richardson, J.A. Klemens, R.G. Harper*, J.A. Frick*, and A.P. Capparella* Departments of Biology and Chemistry, lllinois Wesleyan University, and Department of Biological Science, lllinois State University Previous work by our group has consistently shown low-level pesticide contamination in Neotropical migrant passerines (those songbirds that breed in North America and winter in the West Indies, Central and South America). To further this work, chemical analysis of eleven Neotropical migrant passerine species was conducted. The birds were collected in Illinois along the Mississippi River in May, 1996 and tested for the presence of 17 organochlorine pesticides. The most prevalent pesticides detected were p,p'  -DDE, dieldrin, and heptachlor epoxide. No statistically significant differences in pesticide levels were found between males and females or between winter habitats (forest and shrub). Birds wintering in Central America were significantly more contaminated than birds that winter in Northern South America. Insect gleaners (warblers and vireos) were significantly more contaminated than aerial insect feeders (flycatchers), which were significantly more contaminated than plant consumers (thrushes, buntings, and grosbeaks) . These findings suggest that winter range and diet are larger determinants of contamination levels in Neotropical migrant passerines than other characteristics considered. 

Patterns of Organochlorine Pesticide Contamination in Neotropical Migrant Passerines

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Patterns of Organochlorine Pesticide Contamination in Neotropical Migrant Passerines

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