& its impacts on avian species via inhalation exposure and associated outcomes!
Introduction:
Countries all the world over, especially in the developing world, are experiencing rapid urbanization. The share of the world’s population living in cities is reported to have grown to almost 50 percent and this number is anticipated to increase to more than 60 percent by 2030. One of the many consequences of the increased economic activity that accompanies urbanization—particularly increased vehicle use, electricity generation, and industrial production—is the deterioration of air quality.
In spite of the well-established links between air pollution and human health, vegetation, and aquatic ecosystems, less attention has been paid to the potential impact of reactive atmospheric gases and aerosols on avian species.
We find consistent evidence for adverse health impacts on birds attributable to exposure to gas-phase and particulate air pollutants, including carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), smoke etc, as well as mixtures of urban and industrial releases.
Key Finding:
Avian responses to air pollution include respiratory distress and illness, increased detoxification effort, elevated stress levels, immunosuppression, behavioral changes, and impaired reproductive success. Acquaintance to air pollution may furthermore reduce population density, species diversity, and species richness in bird communities.
1.1 Respiratory distress and illness: Studies have shown that exposure to air pollutants cause morphological and physiological changes in the avian respiratory system. Exposure to air pollution clearly becomes the reason of respiratory distress in birds and increases their susceptibility to respiratory infection.
1.2 Increased detoxification effort, elevated stress levels and immunosuppression: Laboratory and field studies have also determined that exposure to air pollutants results in increased detoxification effort and elevated stress levels in birds, providing further evidence of the negative health impacts of air pollution on avian species. This study also shows that the avian immune response may be impaired following acute or chronic exposure to air pollution, giving added weight to the previous discussion of how birds exposed to health- detrimental air pollutants may be more susceptible to respiratory disease.
1.3 Behavioral changes: Few studies have assessed how exposure to air pollutants may alter bird behavior, but existing research suggests that many different behaviors could be affected, from spontaneous activity to homing.
1.4 Habitat degradation: Industrial emissions often include NOx, SO2, and heavy metals. Acid deposition and heavy metal uptake of soils near point sources of industrial emissions often affect the composition of the plant and invertebrate communities on which birds depend for their food supply. Inorganic environment may promote ecological shifts that increase food availability for some species. For example, great tits bird may have greater reproductive success at sites near point sources of emissions associated with the pulp and paper industry due to higher abundance of caterpillars — a key food resource for this species—in these areas. However, other avian species may suffer if air pollution reduces the quantity or quality of food resources.
1.5 Impaired reproductive success and demographic consequences: Both the direct & indirect, toxic effects of exposure to atmospheric contaminants avifauna (i.e. shifts in food availability) have been linked to impaired reproductive success. Reproductive success is a measure of how effective a parent generation is in passing their genes on to subsequent generations, and as such is often assessed by determining not only the number of offspring produced but also the fitness of those offspring.
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