Feather trace element profiles in urban mountain chickadees differ from adjacent rural chickadees

Worldwide, urbanization has transformed natural habitats and introduced a range of threats to the species living therein, including exposure to trace elements, including heavy metals. In interior British Columbia, Mountain Chickadees (Poecile gambeli) live and breed in both rural and urban habitats. We asked whether trace element concentrations (Be, Mg, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sb, Ba, Hg, Tl, Pb, and U) in the feathers of urban-dwelling chickadees differed from their rural counterparts and, if so, whether the concentrations of trace elements differed by sex or were associated with body size/condition or reproduction. Zn, Mg, Al, Ba, and Sb were all found in higher concentrations in the feathers of urban birds. In contrast, Be, V, Cu, and Se were found in lower concentrations in urban birds. Unlike other studies, we did not find differences in Pb, U, or Cd between rural and urban birds. We found no differences between sexes; however, birds with longer tarsi had hig..., Combination of field data (age, sex, morphometrics, breeding success) and trace element concentrations., , # Data from: Feather trace element profiles in urban mountain chickadees differ from adjacent rural chickadees

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m0cfxppf5](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m0cfxppf5)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data from this study include field data on mountain chickadees (*Poecile gambeli*) collected during the 2018, 2019, and 2021 field seasons, including age, sex, morphology, and reproductive data. Feather trace element concentrations are also provided for each individual.

### Files and variables

#### File: Reudink\_et\_al\_Dryad.csv

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* Year: year of data collection
* NestID: ID of nest box
* Sex: M (male) or F (female)
* Age: After Second Year (ASY) or Second Year (SY) or n/a when ageing was unreliable
* Area: U (Urban) or R (Rural)
* tarsus.length: tarsus length in mm
* bird.weight: bird mass in g
* julien.first.egg: number of days after Jan 1 that the first egg was laid
* number.of.eggs: number of eggs laid
* n...,