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Railway-Associated Attractants as Potential Contaminants for Wildlife by Sonya Zoey Pollock; Colleen Cassady St. Clair is a Environmental Science article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Railway-Associated Attractants as Potential Contaminants for Wildlife about?

Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) appear to be attracted to natural and anthropogenic forage along railways, which may increase collision vulnerability, but also potentially causes exposure to contaminants associated with railway infrastructure. We assessed contaminant exposure for a vulnerable population of grizzly bears in the Canadian Rocky Mountains by determining if (1) dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) growing adjacent to a railway and grain spilled from hopper cars contain heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and mycotoxins and (2) metal concentrations from hair samples of individual bears correlates with use of the railway or other anthropogenic features. We used principle components analysis to represent 10 heavy metals and 16 PAHs and then compared their concentrations in railway-associated sources of grain and dandelions to reference samples that we purchased (grain) or sampled from nearby sites (dandelions). We also measured metal concentrations in the hair of bears that were captured and fitted with GPS collars. We found significantly higher concentrations in railway-associated samples of dandelion and grain for both metals (particularly lead, iron, and ch

Who reads Railway-Associated Attractants as Potential Contaminants for Wildlife?

Author

Sonya Zoey Pollock; Colleen Cassady St. Clair

Publisher

Springer; Springer-Verlag; Springer Verlag; Publons; Springer Science and Business Media LLC (ISSN 0364-152X)

Published

2020

Language

EN

Field

Environmental Science (Physical Sciences)