BRC-BIO: Toxicity in the city: the cumulative effects of heavy metals on the behavior and physiology of urban-adapted birds

城市化在全球范围内不断发展，而人类改变环境的主要方式之一就是通过增加污染。重金属是一种已知会对生物体（包括人类）造成伤害的污染物。例如，重金属包括铅、汞、镉、铬、砷等元素，即使浓度很低也是有毒的。重金属通过建筑和运输等活动释放到环境中，因此通常认为在城市或受人类影响的地区比在农村地区更集中。该项目通过监测从格鲁吉亚10个县（从主要是城市到主要是农村）采样的常见鸟类欧洲椋鸟血液和羽毛中重金属的积累来评估这一假设。该研究还侧重于了解经验水平的重金属对鸟类的生理和行为的影响，以了解暴露的亚致死效应。最终，该项目将告知我们对典型重金属暴露的理解，其与城市化的关联，以及暴露对鸟类行为和生理的影响。这项研究的结果将导致关于居住在同一地区的人类接触重金属的潜在影响的新假设。该项目将通过在亚特兰大大都市创造有偿研究机会，以及将研究纳入肯尼索州立大学的课堂，培训多样化的学生，包括本科生和研究生，从而进一步造福社会。研究小组将通过访问城乡研究地点的教室与高中生接触，分享研究结果并测试学校土壤重金属浓度。该项目涉及城市化、重金属污染、动物行为和生理学以及公共卫生之间联系的三个知识空白。PI Guindre-Parker将通过筛选自由生活的欧洲椋鸟（Sturnus vulgaris）的血液和羽毛组织，表征重金属暴露沿着城市到农村的梯度。八哥种群将在格鲁吉亚的10个县进行抽样调查，这些县的城市化程度不同，包括亚特兰大大都市。接下来，PI Guindre-Parker将研究重金属暴露对椋鸟生理和行为应对方式的亚致死效应。方法包括免疫和内分泌测定，以表征生理学，以及开放领域的测试，以评估行为。重要的是，这项工作将探索暴露于多种重金属如何在自由生活条件下同时塑造动物表型。最后，PI Guindre-Parker将研究椋鸟是否可以通过将椋鸟的结果映射到已发表的人类数据中来进行重金属生物监测。重金属中毒仍然是一个问题，在许多格鲁吉亚县，包括在大都会亚特兰大，从这项工作的结果将有利于正在进行的举措，以监测重金属在该州。该奖项还将创造2个全额资助的研究生职位，3个带薪本科研究职位，并将允许144名生物学专业的学生通过PI Guindre的基于课程的本科生研究经验（CURE）参与课堂研究-帕克的年度脊椎动物学课程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的支持。影响审查标准。

Urbanization is increasing globally, and one of the major ways in which humans are altering the environment is through increased pollution. Heavy metals are one type of pollutant that is known to cause harm to organisms, including humans. For example, heavy metals—which include elements like lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, and many others—are toxic even at very low concentrations. Heavy metals are released into the environment by activities such as construction and transportation, and so are commonly believed to be found in greater concentration in urban or human-impacted areas than in rural locales. This project evaluates that assumption by monitoring the accumulation of heavy metals in the blood and feathers of a common bird, the European starling, sampled from locations across 10 Georgia counties that range from predominantly urban to predominantly rural. The research also focuses on understanding the effects of experienced levels of heavy metals on the physiology and behavior of the birds, to understand the sublethal effects of exposure. Ultimately, this project will inform our understanding of typical heavy metal exposure, its association with urbanization, and the consequences of that exposure for bird behavior and physiology. The results of this study will lead to new hypotheses about the potential effects of heavy metal exposure in humans that inhabit the same areas. The project will further benefit society by training diverse students—including undergraduate and graduate students—through creating paid research opportunities in metropolitan Atlanta, as well as incorporating research into the classroom at Kennesaw State University. The research team will engage with high school students through visits to classrooms across the urban-to-rural study sites to share research findings and test school soil heavy metal concentrations. This project addresses three knowledge gaps on the links among urbanization, heavy metal pollution, animal behavior and physiology, and public health. PI Guindre-Parker will characterize heavy metal exposure along an urban-to-rural gradient by screening blood and feather tissues of free-living European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Starling populations will be sampled across 10 counties in Georgia that differ in their degree of urbanization, including metropolitan Atlanta. Next, PI Guindre-Parker will examine the sublethal effects of heavy metal exposure on the physiology and behavioral coping styles of starlings. Methods include immune and endocrine assays to characterize physiology, as well as open field tests to assess behavior. Importantly, this work will explore how exposure to multiple heavy metals simultaneously shapes animal phenotypes under free-living conditions. Finally, PI Guindre-Parker will investigate whether starlings can serve in biomonitoring heavy metals via mapping results from starlings onto published data in humans. Heavy metal poisoning continues to be a concern in many Georgia counties, including in metro-Atlanta, and results from this work would benefit ongoing initiatives to monitor heavy metals in the state. This award would also create 2 fully funded graduate positions, 3 paid undergraduate research positions, and would allow 144 biology majors to participate in classroom research via course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) in PI Guindre-Parker’s annual Vertebrate Zoology course.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.