Contamination status and accumulation characteristics of heavy metals and arsenic in five seabird species from the central Bering Sea
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Date
2017Author
Ishii, Chihiro
Ikenaka, Yoshinori
Nakayama, Shouta M.M.
Mizukawa, Hazuki
Yohannes, Yared Beyene
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Seabirds are marine top predators and accumulate high levels of metals and
metalloids in their tissues. Contamination by metals in the highly productive offshore region
has become a matter of public concern. It is home to 80% of the seabird population in the
U.S.A., 95% of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus), and major populations of Steller sea lions
(Eumetopias jubatus), walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) and whales. Here, the concentrations of eight
heavy metals (Hg, Cd, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb) and a metalloid (As) in the liver and kidneys of
the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia), short-tailed shearwater
(Puffinus tenuirostris), tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) and horned puffin (Fratercula corniculata)
collected in the Bering Sea were measured. As proxies of trophic level and habitat, nitrogen
(δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) stable isotope ratios of breast muscles were also measured. Hepatic
Hg concentration was high in northern fulmar, whereas Cd level was high in tufted puffin and
northern fulmar. The Hg concentration and δ15N value were positively correlated across individual
birds, suggesting that Hg uptake was linked to the trophic status of consumed prey. Furthermore,
Hg concentration in our study was higher than those of the same species of seabirds collected in
1990