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Thomas Custer (Former Employee)

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Scientist preparing samples in a laboratory

Systematic Approach to Understanding Tree Swallow Health in the Great Lakes Region—Science to Inform Restoration

Four papers by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists document tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) chemical exposure, physiological responses, and reproductive success in the Great Lakes region. These studies were designed to understand if there are health threats to swallows from contaminant exposure, and to provide resource managers with information about the actual as opposed to the perceived...
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Environmental Health Program
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Systematic Approach to Understanding Tree Swallow Health in the Great Lakes Region—Science to Inform Restoration

Four papers by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists document tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) chemical exposure, physiological responses, and reproductive success in the Great Lakes region. These studies were designed to understand if there are health threats to swallows from contaminant exposure, and to provide resource managers with information about the actual as opposed to the perceived...
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tree swallow eggs and nest

Birds as Indicators of Contaminant Exposure in the Great Lakes

Assessing contaminant exposure and effects at Areas of Concern across the Great Lakes Assessing contaminant exposure and effects of contaminants of emerging concern in the Great Lakes BasinStory Map: Utilizing Tree Swallows as Indicators for Contaminants in the Great Lakes AreaUse tree swallows and colonial waterbirds in the Great Lakes to evaluate contaminantExposure (geographic and spatial)...
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
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Birds as Indicators of Contaminant Exposure in the Great Lakes

Assessing contaminant exposure and effects at Areas of Concern across the Great Lakes Assessing contaminant exposure and effects of contaminants of emerging concern in the Great Lakes BasinStory Map: Utilizing Tree Swallows as Indicators for Contaminants in the Great Lakes AreaUse tree swallows and colonial waterbirds in the Great Lakes to evaluate contaminantExposure (geographic and spatial)...
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Tom Custer installing a tree swallow nest box, April 2012, Black River at Loraine, OH

Wildlife Toxicology

The team's long term goal is:Examine the causes, fates, exposures, biological accumulation, and adverse effects (including sublethal effects) of environmental contaminants on animal (largely bird) populations.
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Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
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Wildlife Toxicology

The team's long term goal is:Examine the causes, fates, exposures, biological accumulation, and adverse effects (including sublethal effects) of environmental contaminants on animal (largely bird) populations.
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Reproductive success and contaminant associations in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) used to assess a Beneficial Use Impairment in U.S. and Binational Great Lakes’ Areas of Concern

During 2010-2014, tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) reproductive success was monitored at 68 sites across all 5 Great Lakes, including 58 sites located within Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs) and 10 non-AOCs. Sample eggs were collected from tree swallow clutches and analyzed for contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and furans, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and 34
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, National Wildlife Health Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Annual variation in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure in tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs and nestlings at Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) study sites

Tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs and nestlings were collected from 16 sites across the Great Lakes to quantify normal annual variation in total polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure and to validate the sample size choice in earlier work. A sample size of five eggs or five nestlings per site was adequate to quantify exposure to PCBs in tree swallows given the current exposure levels and va
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Synthesis of tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) data for Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) assessment at Wisconsin Areas of Concern

Assessment of the “Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproductive Problems” Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) can be accomplished by (1) comparing tissue concentrations to established background and Lowest Observable Effect Level (LOEL) for reproductive effects, or (2) directly measuring reproductive success at Areas of Concern (AOCs) and statistically comparing those rates to minimally impacted referen
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

EROD activity, chromosomal damage, and oxidative stress in response to contaminants exposure in tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) nestlings from Great Lakes Areas of Concern

Tree swallow, Tachycineta bicolor, nestlings were collected from 60 sites in the Great Lakes, which included multiple sites within 27 Areas of Concern (AOCs) and six sites not listed as AOCs from 2010 to 2014. Nestlings, approximately 12 days-of-age, were evaluated for ethoxyresorufin-O-dealkylase (EROD) activity, chromosomal damage, and six measures of oxidative stress. Data on each of these biom
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Organic contamination in tree swallow (<i>Tachycineta bicolor</i>) nestlings at United States and binational great Lakes Areas of Concern

Contaminant exposure of tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, nesting in 27 Areas of Concern (AOCs) in the Great Lakes basin was assessed from 2010 to 2014 to assist managers and regulators in their assessments of Great Lakes AOCs. Contaminant concentrations in nestlings from AOCs were compared with those in nestlings from nearby non-AOC sites. Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and polybrominated diphe
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Ecosystems, National Wildlife Health Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Concentrations and spatial patterns of organic contaminants in tree swallow (<i>Tachycineta bicolor</i>) eggs at United States and binational Great Lakes Areas of Concern, 2010–2015

Tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, were sampled across the Great Lakes basin in 2010 through 2015 to provide a system-wide assessment of current exposure to organic contaminants. The results provide information identified as critical by regulators to assess the “bird or animal deformity or reproductive problems” beneficial use impairment. Eggs were collected from 69 sites across all 5 Great Lakes
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, National Wildlife Health Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Mercury concentrations in eggs of red-winged blackbirds and tree swallows breeding in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota

Most investigations of the environmental effects of mercury (Hg) have focused on aquatic food webs that include piscivorous fish or wildlife. However, recent investigations have shown that other species, including passerine songbirds, may also be at risk from exposure to methylmercury (MeHg). We quantified Hg concentrations in eggs of two species of songbirds, red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoen
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Chromosomal damage and EROD induction in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) along the Upper Mississippi River, Minnesota, USA

The health of tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, on the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) was assessed in 2010 and 2011 using biomarkers at six sites downriver of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN metropolitan area, a tributary into the UMR, and a nearby lake. Chromosomal damage was evaluated in nestling blood by measuring the coefficient of variation of DNA content (DNA CV) using flow cytometry. Cytochrome P
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Incubation stage and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener patterns in an altricial and precocial bird species

The composition of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners was compared between non-incubated and embryonated eggs of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) and little terns (Sterna albifrons) to determine if measurable changes in PCB congeners occurred during the embryonic period. There was no indication of changes in PCB congener patterns over the incubation period in tree swallows in 1999 and 200
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Contaminant exposure of birds nesting in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

In earlier studies, elevated concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) were reported in double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) eggs and tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs and nestlings collected from lower Green Bay (WI, USA) in 1994 and 1995 and black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) eggs collected in 1991. Comparabl
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Ecosystems, National Wildlife Health Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Changes in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure in tree swallows (<i>Tachycineta bicolor</i>) nesting along the Sheboygan River, WI, USA

Exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) eggs on the Sheboygan River, Wisconsin in the 1990s was higher at sites downstream (geometric means = 3.33–8.69 μg/g wet wt.) of the putative PCB source in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin than it was above the source (1.24 μg/g) with the exposure declining as the distance downstream of the source increased. A similar pat
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, National Wildlife Health Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Dredging and contaminant exposure to tree swallows nesting on the upper Mississippi River

n 2008 and 2009, dredge material from the Mississippi River in Pool 8 south of Brownsville, Minnesota was used to construct nearby islands. Chemical analysis of sediment in 2001 and 2002 in the area to be dredged indicated detectable concentrations of organic and inorganic contaminants. Tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), whose diet is mainly aquatic invertebrates, were used to evaluate contamina
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
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Tree Swallow GLRI Story Map

This Story Maps accompanies 4 peer-reviewed publications to provide a convenient and useful tool to access the information contained within these four...

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