BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Bird Sci.
Sec. Bird Ecology and Behavior
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbirs.2025.1568877
This article is part of the Research TopicBioenergetic and Behavioral Effects of Rapid Anthropogenic Change and Eco-evolutionary ImplicationsView all 3 articles
No apparent effect of feather heavy metal levels on exploratory behavior of Streak-backed Orioles (Icterus pustulatus) living near mining waste in central Mexico
Provisionally accepted
Lynna Marie Kiere1,2*
Oscar Josue Amaro Flores1Jocelyn Nathaly Maldonado Gómez1Jaqueline García-Hernández3Isaac G-Santoyo4Marcela Osorio-Beristain1- 1Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación (CIByC), Cuernavaca, Mexico
- 2Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
- 3Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo A.C. (CIAD) Guaymas, Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico
- 4Laboratorio de Neuroecología Cognitiva, Facultad de Psicologia, UNAM, Ciudad Unviersitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
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Heavy metals and metalloids (HM) such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury are well known to have toxic effects in numerous biological systems. Mining waste is a major source of HM pollution worldwide. Here, we address the effects of HM exposure from living near abandoned mining waste in the Huautla mining district of central Mexico on the exploratory behavior of the streak-backed oriole. Using a field-implemented novel environment test, we quantified individuals' movements, visual scans, and self-directed behaviors; then, we quantified the concentrations of four toxic (arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium) and two essential HM (copper, zinc) from their contour feathers. Using principal components analysis to summarize behavioral variables showed that there were three main axes of variation (77% of variance), describing overall activity (32.8%), visual scans versus self-directed behaviors (24.5%), and exploration latency (19.9%). None of these components was affected by any of the HM or interactions among them. This was somewhat surprising, given that we found exceedingly high levels of arsenic and moderate levels of lead, mercury, and copper (though no detectable cadmium or zinc). Further work will be needed to disentangle the relative importance of different HM, temporal mismatch between HM circulating in the body and those measured in feathers, and the possibility of detoxification, adaptation, or selective filters earlier in the life cycle of this population, which has been exposed to mining waste for many generations.
Keywords: Mine tailings, Metal poisoning, Anthropogenic effects, exploration, Icteridae, open field test
Received: 30 Jan 2025; Accepted: 15 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kiere, Amaro Flores, Maldonado Gómez, García-Hernández, G-Santoyo and Osorio-Beristain. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lynna Marie Kiere, Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación (CIByC), Cuernavaca, Mexico
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