Aluminium Exposure in Understory Birds of Atlantic Forest Fragments in Brazil

Abstract

The combination of contaminated and fragmented habitat puts the most sensitive species at risk and can function as an ecological trap. Therefore, it is expected that forest birds that inhabit fragments surrounded by agricultural activities present some level of contamination by non-essential metals. Thus, this work sought to identify, using feathers, whether wild understory birds are contaminated by aluminum from sugarcane crops and agricultural. Thus, this work assessed body condition and sought to identify, using feathers, whether wild understory birds are contaminated by aluminum in forest fragments surrounded from sugarcane crops and agricultural pastures. The study was carried out, between September 2021 and October 2022, in three fragments of Atlantic Forest protected, in Alagoas, Brazil. For analysis, 10 breast feathers of 35 individuals, belonging to 15 species were collected and grouped by date and location. The samples were macerated, lyophilized, weighed, stored in a desiccator, and digested in a microwave oven, and analyzed using Optical Emission Spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma, to determine the concentrations of aluminum. The presence of aluminum was detected in all samples (57, 92—552, 62 mg/kg). There is no consensus on the exact universal cutoff value for aluminum contamination in feathers. However, values above 200 mg/kg are not considered normal. Furthermore, the results showed the need to pay attention in the protected areas studied, which may be functioning as ecological traps, bringing harm to the reproductive success of several species, especially endemic and threatened ones, which tend to have their populations already reduced for other reasons.

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