Sampling and Analysis Plan for 2016 RMP Status and Trends Bird Egg Monitoring

The samples will be collected by staff at the USGS Western Ecological Research Center [USGS-WERC] who will procure all necessary egg collection permits. Eggs will then be analyzed for:

● Total mercury (THg) (cormorant eggs at Moss Landing Marine Laboratory-Marine Pollution Studies Lab [MLML-MPSL]; tern eggs at USGS-WERC), 

● Selenium (cormorant and tern eggs at MLML-MPSL), 

● PCBs (cormorant eggs at the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Water Pollution Control Laboratory [DFW-WPCL]), 

● PBDEs (cormorant eggs at DFW-WPCL) (NOTE: PBDE analysis in tern eggs was discontinued due to increased USGS costs), 

● PFCs and precursors (cormorant eggs at AXYS Analytical Laboratories), and 

● Halogenated carbazoles (cormorant eggs at Southern Illinois University) NOTE: Carbazole analyses will be done pro bono by SIU for research purposes. Carbazoles are not part of the RMP Status and Trends design. SIU will not measure percent moisture in its samples. Therefore, it is important to make sure that sample weights, prior to analysis, are accurately measured since we will be applying the percent moisture values from other laboratories to their samples. Available data will be used to back-calculate fresh wet weight values for these samples.