Southern Ontario
Hamilton Area
European Starlings
The Mohawk Street Landfill (20 Morrison Road, Brantford, Ontario, Canada) is the primary contaminated site we use to monitor PFAS through the food web and tissues of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in southern Ontario. PFAS concentrations in starling eggs at the Mohawk Street Landfill are much higher than eggs collected all other sites across Canada, including other landfills. In fact, Brantford eggs have been the most contaminated since monitoring first began in 2009. Therefore, this site presents an interesting opportunity to study PFAS contamination in the environment and how it affects local avian communities.
The Choy Lab collects eggs, blood from starling nestlings, and terrestrial invertebrates that comprise starling diet for PFAS analysis. We also evaluate the health of eight- and twelve-day-old starlight nestlings using morphometrics, blood, and fecal samples to determine whether elevated PFAS levels are detrimental to nestling health. Overall, this work aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the distribution of PFAS throughout the environment and to determine how avian health may be impacted by such pollution.
Tree Swallows
Graduate students in the Choy lab monitor the effects of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) on tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), a native songbird to southern Ontario. Tree swallow field sites include waste sites (Dundas Waste Water Treatment Plant, Brantford Landfill, Brantford Waste Water Treatment Plant, Windermere Basin South downstream from Woodward Waste Water Treatment Plant) and non-waste sites (McMaster Forest Nature Reserve and Mountsburg Conservation Area). Each site has between 15-50 tree swallow boxes that are monitored seasonally by the Choy lab field team. MSc student Danielle MacNeil is characterizing exposure routes and potential physiological effects of PFAS on tree swallow nestlings. MSc student Sasha Cognigni is investigating the variation in the gut microbiome of tree swallow nestlings in relation to accumulated PFAS.
