Feeling the heat: birds as bioindicators of flame retardant emissions from landfills

Overview:
There is a vast reservoir of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) associated with waste electronics and soft furnishings that accumulate in UK landfills. Given concerns about the health impacts of such chemicals and their ability to bioaccumulate, this project will test the hypothesis that landfills represent an important source of BFRs to UK wildlife. This will be achieved by comparing concentrations of BFRs in gull (Larus spp.) eggs and tissues from landfill sites compared to both urban and rural locations. The project offers an exceptional opportunity for multidisciplinary research training that incorporates substantial components of both fieldwork and environmental analytical chemistry. We will work closely with Environment Canada to provide an opportunity for an exceptional research training experience in Ontario, Canada, whereby the successful candidate will work collaboratively in a truly international context.

Methodology:
We will test the hypothesis that emissions from waste materials in landfill constitute an important source of BFRs to the environment and the terrestrial food chain especially. To do so, we will measure concentrations of a range of BFRs in gull eggs and tissues from: (a) landfill sites; (b) urban locations; and (c) rural sites. We hypothesise that concentrations in eggs and tissues of birds foraging at landfill sites will significantly exceed those in birds that do not. Gulls are our chosen sentinel species because they are omnivorous apex predators and are thus especially vulnerable to bioaccumulation of these contaminantsBFRs. Moreover, our Environment Canada partners have extensive experience of working with another avian species (the Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris) in their own studies of birds on landfills in the Great Lakes basin; such parallel research in Canada facilitates evaluation of the relative efficacy of the two taxa as sentinel species of BFR emissions from landfilled waste.

Training and skills:
CENTA students will attend 45 days of training throughout their PhD including a 10-day placement. In the first year, students will be trained as a single cohort on environmental science, research methods and core skills. Throughout the PhD, training will progress from core skills sets to master classes specific to the student’s projects and themes.
Subject specific training
The project has a strong multidisciplinary component, combining aspects of avian ecology, environmental chemistry, and analytical science. Thus, subject-specific training will be offered in each of these areas. It will comprise a mix of appropriate postgraduate level training (e.g. Air Pollution Management and Control, Environmental Analysis and Modelling), and external training courses. Examples of the latter include those run by Marie Curie Initial Training Network projects headed by Harrad that address aspects specific to the environmental analysis of pollutants like BFRs. The successful candidate will also undertake Home Office-accredited training in aspects of animal work including ethical considerations.

Partners and collaboration:
The CASE partner is the Canadian Wildlife Service (Environment Canada) through a collaboration with an ecotoxicologist, Dr Kim Fernie. Dr Fernie studies how persistent chemicals (e.g. flame retardants) influence the breeding biology of many animal avian taxa. She works on the introduced Common Starling that is Red-listed here in the UK but has pest status in Canada, breeding and foraging at landfill sites. This collaboration affords the PhD student with an exciting opportunity to work on two avian taxa on two different continents, to examine their relative efficacy as sentinel species of chemical contamination at higher trophic levels of food chains.