Did you know that exposure to lead can make birds' bones more fragile and prone to breakage? If groups of a particular species of bird are affected by lead toxicity and have fragile bones, then they die earlier, leading to lower numbers of that species. This can make thriving bird species become endangered, or further harm bird species that are already endangered.
Pedro Álvarez Lloret, of the department of Mineralogy and Petrology of the University of Granada, has been studying these effects on birds. He also foudn that polychloro-biphenyl (PCB) and TCDD, which are "two organochlorate pollutants used in industrial manufacture processes of plastic and insecticides," also weaken birds' bones by making them more crystaline.
Read all about Álvarez Lloret's work here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081201101149.htm
and a related article called "Raptors Survival Can Be Threatened By Ingesting Lead And Cadmium" here:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717223732.htm
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