Death cannot solely define Lake Apopka wildlife health.
Reproductive abnormalities are an important sign of unhealthy wildlife, but an Orlando Sentinel article fails to note that aspect in its story detailing efforts to restore Florida's Lake Apopka.
An article in the Orlando Sentinel reports on the guarded optimism regarding the ecological recovery of Florida's highly-polluted Lake Apopka and its surrounding shoreline. State wildlife conservation personnel and associated scientists hope that the remediation outlined in the story will, in the near future, improve the environment, restore habitat for scores of bird species and lead to increased use by wildlife enthusiasts.
The latest clean-up efforts focus on burying contaminated top soil and the pollutants it contains to prevent poisoning – and high mortality – of birds and other wildlife. This is a concern because a restoration attempt in 1998 resulted in a massive bird kill.
But death is not the only salient endpoint to wildlife, and by repeatedly focusing on bird deaths as a measure of success, the reporter neglected an equally important benchmark: the long-term, reproductive success of the animals.
As mentioned in the article, Lake Apopka is highly polluted with excess nutrients and toxic chemicals originating from sewage plant, citrus processor and vegetable farm wastewater. Additionally, wastewater and a series of pesticide spills at the Tower Chemical Company released a mixture of organochlorine pesticides – including DDT – into the lake. These spills augmented the load of pesticides and pollutants introduced to the lake via muck (drained wetland) farming.
Many of these degradation-resistant pesticides and their breakdown products possess endocrine disrupting properties, including the ability to interfere with testosterone signaling. These hormone disruptions can alter and disrupt reproductive development and function. Reproductive abnormalities – including hormone imbalances, decreased fertility and altered structure of reproductive organs – have been documented in Lake Apopka alligators, fish, and birds. Similar hormone effects are reported in farm workers who formerly worked at the lake.
While dead birds are a clear harbinger of the devastating toll of environmental pollution, gauging the full impact of Lake Apopka bird habitat health cannot be accomplished with only binoculars and a tally sheet. Readers would have been better informed if the article had addressed the past impacts and future assessment of hormone-altering chemicals on Lake Apopka's wildlife.
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Based on a work at www.environmentalhealthnews.org.
