Human-induced rapid environmental changes can disrupt habitat quality in the short term. A decrease in quality of habitats associated with preference for these over other available higher quality is referred as ecological trap. In 2015, the Fundão dam containing iron mining tailings, eastern Brazil, collapsed and released about 50 million cubic meters of metal-rich mud composed by Fe, As, Cd, Hg, Pb in three rivers and the adjacent continental shelf. The area is a foraging site for dozens of seabird and shorebird species.
© Guilherme Tavares Nunes
This study shows the existence of an ecological trap as seabirds did not change habitat use, even though it had its quality reduced by contamination. The sinking-resuspension dynamics of tailings deposited on the continental shelf can temporally increase seabird exposure to contaminants, which can promote deleterious effects on populations using the region as foraging sites in medium and long terms.
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Reference : Guilherme Tavares Nunes, Márcio Amorim Efe, Cindy Tavares Barreto, Juliana Vallim Gaiotto, Aline Barbosa Silva, Fiorella Vilela, Amédée Roy, Sophie Bertrand, Patrícia Gomes Costa, Adalto Bianchini, Leandro Bugoni (2022). Ecological trap for seabirds due to the contamination caused by the Fundão dam collapse, Brazil. Science of The Total Environment 807(2),151486. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151486.