Lead contamination is a global problem affecting a large number of bird species around the world. Among the different avian guilds, vultures and facultative scavengers are particularly threatened by this toxic metal. However, little information is available about differences in exposure to this metal for sympatric vulture species that share food resources. We compared blood lead concentrations of two closely related sympatric obligate scavenger species, the abundant Black Vulture Coragyps atratus and the threatened Andean Condor Vultur gryphus in north‐western Patagonia, Argentina. We sampled 28 Andean Condors and 29 Black Vultures trapped foraging in the same area in the steppe. We also sampled 16 Black Vultures foraging in a rubbish dump to determine whether there were differences in lead contamination among foraging sites. Andean Condors had significantly higher mean blood lead concentrations than Black Vultures. There was no difference in lead concentrations between Black Vultures trapped in the steppe and in the rubbish dump. The prevalence and probability of lead concentrations above the threshold level (20 µg/dL) was higher for Andean Condors than for Black Vultures, potentially producing different effects on their health. This disparity in lead contamination may be due to differences in their foraging habits or in their susceptibility to this toxic metal. Overall, our results suggest caution in using an abundant surrogate species to infer lead contamination in a closely related but harder to sample species.

中文翻译：

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共有食物来源的相关清除禽类中铅污染的比较：使用替代物种时要谨慎

铅污染是一个全球性问题，影响着全世界许多鸟类。在不同的鸟类行会中，这种有毒金属尤其威胁着秃鹰和兼性清除剂。但是，对于共享食物资源的同伴秃species物种，接触这种金属的差异的信息很少。我们比较了两个密切相关的同域专清道夫物种血铅浓度，丰富的黑秃鹫Coragyps atratus和受威胁的安第斯秃鹰Vultur gryphus在阿根廷西北巴塔哥尼亚。我们在草原的同一区域对28只安第斯秃鹰和29只黑秃ul进行了抽样调查。我们还对垃圾堆中的16只黑秃ul觅食进行了采样，以确定在觅食地点之间铅污染是否存在差异。安第斯秃鹰的平均血铅浓度明显高于黑秃鹰。在草原和垃圾场中捕获的黑秃V之间的铅浓度没有差异。安第斯秃鹰的铅浓度高于阈值水平（20 µg / dL）的患病率和概率高于黑秃鹰，可能对其健康产生不同的影响。铅污染的这种差异可能是由于它们的觅食习惯或对这种有毒金属的敏感性不同。总体，