Revised Manuscript 7754
Author Information Barnett A. Rattner, Ph.D. USGS-Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, BARC-East, Building 308, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA. Telephone: 301-497-5671 Fax: 301-4975624 Email:
[email protected] Moira A. McKernan, M.S. USGS-Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, BARC-East, Building 308, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA. Telephone: 301-497-5677 Fax: 301-497-5624 Email:
[email protected] Karen M. Eisenreich, M.S. USGS-Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, BARC-East, Building 308, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA. Telephone: 301-497-5677 Fax: 301-497-5624 Email:
[email protected] William A. Link, Ph.D. USGS-Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 11510 American Holly Drive, Laurel, MD 20708, USA. Telephone: 301-497-5666 Fax: 301-497-5631 Email:
[email protected] Glenn Olsen, D.V.M., Ph.D. USGS-Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 12302 Beech Forest Road, Laurel, MD 20708, USA. Telephone: 301-497-5603 Fax: 301-497-5603 Email:
[email protected] David J. Hoffman, Ph.D. USGS-Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, BARC-East, Building 308, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA. Telephone: 301-497-5712 Fax: 301497-5624 Email:
[email protected] Kathy A. Knowles, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Environmental Laboratory Section, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901, USA. Telephone: 302-739-4771 Email:
[email protected] Peter C. McGowan, M.S. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Bay Field Office, 177 Admiral Cochrane Drive, Annapolis, MD 21401, USA. Telephone: 410-573-4523 Fax: 410269-0832 Email:
[email protected]
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Toxicity and Hazard of Vanadium to Mallard Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) and Canada Geese (Branta canadensis)
Barnett A. Rattner, 1 Moira A. McKernan, 1 Karen M. Eisenreich, 1 William A. Link, 1 Glenn Olsen, 1 David J. Hoffman, 1 Kathy A. Knowles, 2 Peter C. McGowan3 1
U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Maryland, USA
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Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Environmental Laboratory Section, Dover, Delaware, USA 3
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Bay Field Office, Annapolis, Maryland, USA
Running Head: Vanadium toxicity to mallards and geese
We thank Betty K. Ackerson, Kinard Boone, Dr. Patty Bright, Lynda J. Garrett, Dr. Jeff S. Hatfield, Vera Hudson, Katie R. Schoen and Pamela C. Toschik for assistance with this work, and Drs. Gary H. Heinz and W. Nelson Beyer for reviewing a draft of this manuscript. Address correspondence to Barnett A. Rattner, PhD, USGS-Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, BARC-East, Building 308, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA. Email:
[email protected]
3 ABSTRACT A recent Canada goose (Branta canadensis) die-off at a petroleum refinery fly ash pond in Delaware, USA was attributed to vanadium (V) toxicity. Because of the paucity of V toxicity data for wild birds, a series of studies was undertaken using the forms of V believed to have resulted in this incident. In 7-day single oral dose trials with mallard drakes (Anas platyrhynchos), the estimated median lethal dose (LD50) for vanadium pentoxide was 113 mg/kg body weight, while the LD50 for sodium metavanadate was 75.5 mg/kg. Sodium metavanadate was found to be even more potent (LD50 = 37.2 mg/kg) in male Canada geese. The most distinctive histopathological lesion of both forms of V was lympho-granulocytic enteritis with hemorrhage into the intestinal lumen. Vanadium accumulation in liver and kidney was proportional to the administered dose, and predictive analyses based on these data suggest that V concentrations of 10 μg/g dw in liver and 25 μg/g dw in kidney are associated with mortality (>90% confidence that exposure >LD50) in mallards acutely exposed to sodium metavanadate. Chronic exposure to increasing dietary concentrations of sodium metavanadate (38.5 to 2651 ppm) over 67 days resulted in V accumulation in liver and kidney (25.2 and 13.6 μg/g dw, respectively), mild intestinal hemorrhage, blood chemistry changes and evidence of hepatic oxidative stress in mallards, although some of these responses may have been confounded by food avoidance and weight loss. Dietary exposure of mallards to 250 ppm sodium metavanadate for 4 weeks resulted in modest accumulation of V in liver and kidney (
