Heavy Metal Poisoning and Its Impacts on the Conservation of Amazonian Parrots: An Interdisciplinary Review

Author: mycolabadmin
6/6/2025
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Summary

Amazonian parrots face a serious but often invisible threat from heavy metal poisoning caused by illegal mining, agriculture, and urban waste. These toxic metals accumulate in the birds’ bodies over their long lifespans, causing brain damage, kidney failure, and reproductive problems that threaten entire parrot populations. The review calls for urgent action including stopping illegal mining, cleaning contaminated areas, and protecting forests to ensure these important seed-dispersing birds survive.

Background

Amazonian parrots (Psittacidae) are essential to ecosystem balance and serve as sentinel species for environmental contamination. These long-lived birds are increasingly threatened by heavy metal exposure from anthropogenic activities including illegal gold mining, agricultural intensification, and urban expansion, which release metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and arsenic into the environment.

Objective

This interdisciplinary review synthesizes evidence on the sources, bioaccumulation pathways, and physiological impacts of heavy metals in Amazonian psittacids. The study aims to identify conservation challenges and propose evidence-based mitigation strategies to address heavy metal contamination and its effects on parrot populations and ecosystem services.

Results

Heavy metal contamination in Amazonian parrots results in severe neurotoxic effects, immunosuppression, reproductive failure, and reduced survival. Mercury causes irreversible neurological damage affecting flight and communication; lead induces anemia and renal failure; cadmium causes reproductive dysfunction and chronic renal failure; arsenic suppresses immune function. Maternal transfer of contaminants to eggs affects embryo viability and threatens population genetic diversity.

Conclusion

Heavy metal contamination represents a critical but often-overlooked threat to Amazonian parrot conservation. Mitigation requires integrated approaches including environmental monitoring with advanced technologies, habitat restoration, phytoremediation, ecological corridor protection, and strengthened international environmental governance. Addressing metal contamination is essential for preserving Amazonian biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Published in:Biology (Basel),
Study Type:Review,
Source: PMC12189678, PMID: 40563911, DOI: 10.3390/biology14060660