Behavioral Traits and Airport Type Affect Mammal Incidents with U.S. Civil Aircraft

Wildlife incidents with aircraft cost the United States (U.S.) civil aviation industry >US$1.4 billion in estimated damages and loss of revenue from 1990 to 2009. Although terrestrial mammals represented only 2.3 % of wildlife incidents, damage to aircraft occurred in 59 % of mammal incidents. We examined mammal incidents (excluding bats) at all airports in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Wildlife Strike Database from 1990 to 2010 to characterize these incidents by airport type: Part-139 certified (certificated) and general aviation (GA). We also calculated relative hazard scores for species most frequently involved in incidents. We found certificated airports had more than twice as many incidents as GA airports. Incidents were most frequent in October (n = 215 of 1,764 total) at certificated airports and November (n = 111 of 741 total) at GA airports. Most (63.2 %) incidents at all airports (n = 1,523) occurred at night but the greatest incident rate occurred at dusk (177.3 incidents/hr). More incidents with damage (n = 1,594) occurred at GA airports (38.6 %) than certificated airports (19.0 %). Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) incidents incurred greatest (92.4 %) damage costs (n = 326; US$51.8 million) overall and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) was the most hazardous species. Overall, relative hazard score increased with increasing log body mass. Frequency of incidents was influenced by species relative seasonal abundance and behavior. We recommend airport wildlife officials evaluate the risks mammal species pose to aircraft based on the hazard information we provide and consider prioritizing management strategies that emphasize reducing their occurrence on airport property.     

Chlorinated hydrocarbon contaminants in blood of black and turkey vultures from Savannah River Site,South Carolina,USA

Blood of adult and juvenile black and turkey vultures in the Savannah River Site of South Carolina, USA was analyzed for the presence of 2,3,7,8-chlorine substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (2,3,7,8-PCDDs), dibenzofurans (2,3,7,8-PCDFs), -dioxin-like and -di-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls. Concentration ranges of 2,3,7,8-PCDD/DFs in blood of black and turkey vultures were 14.2-34.6 and 8.7-56.2 pg/ml wet wt., respectively. Dioxin-like PCBs were in the ranges of 815-4627 and 753-3611 pg/ml wet wt. respectively, in black and turkey vultures. Considerable concentrations of two congeners of di-ortho PCBs were noticed in the ranges of 1415-10325 and 663-7500 pg/ml respectively, in black and turkey vultures. Comparatively, greater toxic equivalency (TEQ) were observed in blood of turkey vultures with the ranges of 3.2-20, whereas black vulture contained 1.8-8.4 pgTEQ/ml wet wt. basis. The species-specific accumulation profiles of PCDD/DFs and dioxin-like PCBs may reflect the different feeding habits, ecology, metabolic capacity and migratory movements of these two scavenging species.