| This research determined the optimal techniques for the detection of inorganic contaminants in biological samples from Black Terns nesting in the Kingston, Ontario, region. Non-destructive blood and feather sampling are important techniques that allow long-term environmental studies to be carried out by means of repeated sampling and monitoring of potential contaminant effects. Egg, blood, and feather samples as well as samples of Black Tern prey were obtained. The small sample sizes necessitated the development of laboratory techniques for the detection and quantification of trace amounts of contaminants. Comparison of several laboratory methods showed that the best results for inorganic analyses were obtained by dry ashing and hotplate digestion of matrices, when used in conjunction with inductively-coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy and inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry instrumentation. Neutron activation analysis was found to be not entirely applicable to analysis of these types of environmental samples as some important elements could not be determined. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
