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Skeletal Pathology in White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) Associated With Heavy Metal Contamination in Southwestern Spain

¹ Department of Veterinary Pathology
² Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B4, Canada
³ Estación Biológica de Doòana, C.S.I.C., 41013 Sevilla, Spain
⁴ Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada

Correspondence: Address correspondence to: Dr. Judit E. G. Smits, Department of Veterinary Pathology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B4 Canada; e-mail: judit.smits{at}usask.ca

In 1998, a mine tailings dyke in southwestern Spain broke, flooding the Agrio-Guadiamar river system with acid tailings up to the borders of one of the largest breeding colony of white storks in the western Palearctic, Dehesa de Abajo. Over the following years, a high proportion of nestlings developed leg defects, prompting this study. Ten fledglings with leg deformities from the spill area were compared with 11 normal storks of the same year class from another region far from the spill. However, metals were analyzed as a continuum rather than by site, as reference birds also contained high levels of metals. Gross pathology of the legs was supported by histopathology, which showed that bone remodeling activity was greater in the deformed storks, which also had more irregular subperiosteal bone, and tended to have higher residual islets of cartilage in their metaphyses, which, in turn were related to metal contaminant residues. Both Ca and P in bone were affected independently by metals. Deformed birds had lower serum bone alkaline phosphatase. Bone malformations, measured by leg asymmetry, was only partially explained by bone metals, indicating that a combination of factors was involved with the abnormal development in these young storks.

Key Words: Skeletal pathology • white storks • toxic metals • bone alkaline phosphatase • deformities • environmental contamination

Abbreviations: AP, alkaline phosphatase • ANOVA, analysis of variance • BAP, bone alkaline phosphatase • DdA, Dehesa de Abajo • HPF, high power field • LSI, liver somatic index • MT, tarsometatarsal bone • OP, organophosphate • PCA, principle component analysis • PC1, first principle component • PC2, second principle component • PC3, third principle component

Toxicologic Pathology, Vol. 33, No. 4, 441-448 (2005)
DOI: 10.1080/01926230590953097


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