Lead in Texas wetlands and its relationship to waterfowl hunting

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorFisher, Frank M.en_US
dc.creatorPrice, Linda Havighursten_US
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-18T21:22:32Zen_US
dc.date.available2018-12-18T21:22:32Zen_US
dc.date.issued1975en_US
dc.description.abstractLead shot deposited in wetland ponds by waterfowl hunters over a number of years may be a significant source of lead in localized areas in this environment. To determine whether such shot contributes to the overall lead content of marshes, samples of soils, plants, fishes, crustaceans and ducks were collected in Chambers County, Texas, for lead analysis. Soil from sites near a waterfowl blind in a heavily hunted pond had significantly more extractable lead than soil collected in the same pond out of shotgun range of the blind; however, no differences in lead, attributable to spent shot, were noted between three ponds which had experienced different hunting pressures over the past ten years. Rather, the amount of lead in sections of core samples from the three ponds (mean of 66 ppm, dry wt) was related to clay content of the soils and was high compared to the average amount of lead reported in soils throughout the world. The level of lead, did not diminish down to 7 cm in two of the ponds examined. From the increase in extractable lead, noted 75 days after seeding pond soil with varying amounts of shot, a release rate of extractable lead from shot was calculated. The amount of lead found in plant tissue was correlated with the lead in the soil from which the plant was collected. More lead was found in plant roots than plant stems and blades. Mean amounts of lead in Eleocharis parvula (17.3 ppm), Paspalum virgatum (7.5 ppm) and the overall levels of lead in fishes (19.9 ppm) and crustaceans (37.6 ppm) were much higher than previously reported for such organisms. The mean amount of lead in ducks analyzed (5.7 ppm) was slightly above that reported for waterfowl in other surveys and 5$ of the ducks collected during hunting season had levels of lead characteristic of birds suffering from lead-poisoning.en_US
dc.format.digitalOriginreformatted digitalen_US
dc.format.extent47 ppen_US
dc.identifier.callnoThesis Biol. 1975 Priceen_US
dc.identifier.citationPrice, Linda Havighurst. "Lead in Texas wetlands and its relationship to waterfowl hunting." (1975) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/104406">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/104406</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.digitalRICE2041en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/104406en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.titleLead in Texas wetlands and its relationship to waterfowl huntingen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentBiologyen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineNatural Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
RICE2041.pdf
Size:
1.49 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
Collections
Rice University Theses and Dissertations