Most of you have probably heard of “Silent Spring,” the book by Rachel Carson that talked about the unintended consequences of chemicals we use in the environment, particularly the pesticide DDT and its effect of thinning bird’s eggshells to the point where their offspring couldn’t survive.
Well, we wanted to see how ospreys in the Chesapeake Bay were doing. We compared samples taken during the nesting seasons of 2011-2013 to a similar study from 2000-2001. We found that DDT and DDE had declined, while PCBs had remained about the same for the last 35 years. We also found that certain flame retardants had declined slightly, but some hotspots remained.
Read more: http://bit.ly/2glCLRW
Image shows an osprey with a fish on Poplar Island, Maryland. Credit: A game camera placed by Rebecca Lazarus, USGS.
#USGS #Science #ChesapeakeBay #Toxicology
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