Does temporal variation of mercury levels in Arctic seabirds reflect changes in global environmental contamination, or a modification of Arctic marine food web functioning?

Environmental Pollution
Jérôme FortPaco Bustamante

Abstract

Studying long-term trends of contaminants in Arctic biota is essential to better understand impacts of anthropogenic activities and climate change on the exposure of sensitive species and marine ecosystems. We concurrently measured temporal changes (2006-2014) in mercury (Hg) contamination of little auks (Alle alle; the most abundant Arctic seabird) and in their major zooplankton prey species (Calanoid copepods, Themisto libellula, Gammarus spp.). We found an increasing contamination of the food-chain in East Greenland during summer over the last decade. More specifically, bird contamination (determined by body feather analyses) has increased at a rate of 3.4% per year. Conversely, bird exposure to Hg during winter in the northwest Atlantic (determined by head feather analyses) decreased over the study period (at a rate of 1.5% per year), although winter concentrations remained consistently higher than during summer. By combining mercury levels measured in birds and zooplankton to isotopic analyses, our results demonstrate that inter-annual variations of Hg levels in little auks reflect changes in food-chain contamination, rather than a reorganization of the food web and a modification of seabird trophic ecology. They therefore...Continue Reading

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Citations

Feb 2, 2019·Scientific Reports·Françoise AmélineauJérôme Fort
Nov 12, 2020·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Enrique Lozano-BilbaoJesús Alcázar-Treviño
Jan 27, 2019·The Science of the Total Environment·Aneta Dorota PacynaŻaneta Polkowska
May 20, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Aneta Dorota Pacyna-KuchtaKatarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas
Dec 2, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Saúl De La Peña-Lastra

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