| The effects of elemental and organic environmental contamination in av1an populations have been studied for decades. Compounds such as PCBs and those containing elementals such as mercury, chromium, arsenic, antimony and selenium bio -- accumulate and bio -- magnify in the food chain, potentially raising cause for concern due to their harmful toxicological properties. Whilst technology has advanced significantly over the last 20 to 30 years, there has been a struggle to develop methods that use biological samples small enough so as to not require animal sacrifice in order to adequately study an individual.;This study also investigated the viability of using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) to study elemental contamination in feather samples. INAA provides an attractive altenative to convention techniques as it is non-destructive and allows for subsequent analysis of the same sample. Because of their environmental significance, antimony, arsenic, chromium, mercury and selenium were the primary focus of these investigations. Contamination was studied in feather samples from both Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura). INAA results were compared against those of more commonly used techniques such as cold vapour atomic absorption spectroscopy (CVAAS), inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Direct Mercury Analysis (DMA). Results indicated that INAA is a suitable alternative to ICP-MS, CVAAS and DMA for the analysis of mercury in feather samples. Further, results indicated that the determination of environmental trace elemental burdens using feathers is significantly enhanced through the analysis of multiple feathers using INAA.;This study has developed novel pressurized solvent extraction vessels to examine PCB concentrations in microlitre quantities of avian blood and tissue samples. The vessels were designed in a manner that allows for their use in commercially available solvent extraction units. A built-in clean-up column removes moisture and co-extracted lipids from sample extracts, eliminating the need for further post-extraction clean-up procedures. Large volume injection-ion trap-mass spectrometry (LVI-IT-MS) provided a highly sensitive method for detecting low levels (ng˙g-1 ) of PCBs in sample extracts. Method detection limits of between 0.06 ng˙g-1 and 1.5 ng˙g-1 were determined for individual congeners using laboratory prepared whole blood samples. Laboratory results were then field-tested using blood and tissue samples from Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) migrating through the Thousand Islands region of Ontario, Canada. Field results successfully supported laboratory validation studies. |
