Geochemical evidence for the development of coral island ecosystem in the Xisha Archipelago of South China Sea from four ornithogenic sediment profiles

Eco-environmental implications of elemental and carbon isotope distributions in ornithogenic sediments from the Ross Sea region, Antarctica

“…Studies on multiple species of seabirds such as the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), gulls and terns in the Barents Sea and Arctic Canada show selective enrichment of As, Cd, Cu, P, Se, Sr and Zn in their guano, tissues, and sediments with guano influence (Dietz et al, 1996;Savinov et al, 2003;Brimble et al, 2009a,b;Michelutti et al, 2010). In tropical Xisha Islands of the South China Sea where many red-footed boobies (Sula sula) reside, it was found that As, Ba, Cd, Cu, P, Se and Zn are enriched in sediments influenced by these birds (Liu et al, 2006a;Xu et al, 2011).…”

“…Under such circumstances, these sites may serve as secondary pollution sources in the local environment (Roosens et al, 2007;Corsolini, 2009). Thus, numerous investigations have documented the elements that guano tends to enrich at various locations, in both polar and tropical regions (Liu et al, 2008;Huang et al, 2009;Brimble et al, 2009b;Xu et al, 2011), providing a greater understanding of the possible impact that guano might bring to local ecosystems.…”

“…Marine-derived elements enriched by seabirds can be well preserved in ornithogenic soils and sediments with the accumulation of deposited guano, making it an ideal medium for geochemical study (Xu et al, 2011). A bio-element assemblage can provide us an overall perspective from which to trace the source of multiple elements without being hindered by the specific geochemical behavior of an individual element (Huang et al, 2009).…”

“…In polar coastal areas where oligotrophic environments naturally occur, seabird nesting sites usually become biological hot spots with higher productivity than surrounding areaswithout guano influx (Hadley et al, 2010). In isolated tropical islands, seabird droppings may even become the driving force for the evolution of islet ecosystems (Liu et al, 2006a;Xu et al, 2011). Besides nutrients, marine-derived contaminants such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are also concentrated in seabird colonies due to the bio-magnification effects up the food chain (Keatley et al, 2009;Choy et al, 2010;Michelutti et al, 2010).…”

Breeding Westland petrels as providers of detrital carbon and nitrogen for soil arthropods: a stable isotope study

“…Instead, marine C appears only in animals with food chains based directly on seabird material, whether predators consuming live seabirds (Major et al 2007), necrovores consuming seabird corpses (Hawke & Clark 2010a), or detritivores (and their predators) consuming seabird discards (Hawke & Clark 2010b). Consequently, the transfer of marine C to the wider terrestrial environment appears constricted and the oft-noted 'marine nutrient subsidy' derived from seabirds may only apply to N and P and certain trace elements (Xu et al 2011).…”