Individual variability in contaminants and physiological status in a resident Arctic seabird species

Eckbo, Norith; Bohec, Céline Le; Planas‐Bielsa, Víctor; Warner, Nick; Schull, Quentin; Herzke, Dorte; Zahn, Sandrine; Haarr, Ane; Gabrielsen, Geir Wing; Borgå, Katrine

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.01.025

Cited by 23 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…For instance, Ackerman et al 2016 Our results show that anatids had lower Hg concentrations in blood than larids (F1,46=14.36, p < 0.001). For anatids, Hg concentrations ranged from 0.57 ± 0.04 μg/g dw (long-tailed duck, Franson et al, 2004) Finally, Hg concentrations in alcid blood samples ranged from 0.32 ± 0.80 μg/g dw to 4.58 μg/g dw, both measured in black guillemots (Eckbo et al, 2019 andMallory et al, 2018, respectively), with an average value for this family of 2.16 ± 1.58 μg/g dw. Overall, these data show a high inter-species variability (see Table 1, Figs.…”

Section: Blood As a Tool To Monitor Hg Contamination During The Breedmentioning

confidence: 97%

Using blood and feathers to investigate large-scale Hg contamination in Arctic seabirds: A review

Albert

Renedo

Bustamante

et al. 2019

Environmental Research

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Mercury (Hg), because of its deleterious effects on wildlife and its high concentrations in polar regions, has been widely studied in the Arctic. This provided important information regarding food web contamination, spatial and temporal trends of Hg in ecosystems or risk assessments for wildlife and Humans. Among the Arctic biota, seabirds have been among the most studied species due to their sensitivity to this toxicant, their role as bioindicators of the contamination status of their environment, and their consumption by Arctic communities. However, most studies that investigated Hg in Arctic seabirds focused on measurements in internal organs or in eggs, while few investigations have been performed on blood and feathers, despite the relevant and complementary information they provide. Here, we first provide a detailed overview of the specific information blood and feathers can bring when investigating Hg contamination of Arctic seabirds, including new knowledge on the poorly studied non-breeding period. Second, we perform a comprehensive review of the use of blood and feathers as non-lethal tissues to study Hg in Arctic seabirds. This review demonstrates important interspecific variations in Hg blood concentrations according to seabird trophic status, with seaducks generally presenting the lowest Hg concentrations while auks have the highest ones. However, all the observed Hg concentrations are below the admitted toxicity thresholds. Hg concentrations in feathers follow similar trends and gulls appear to be the most contaminated species, likely as a consequence of contrasting migratory and overwintering strategies. This review also confirms strong spatial variations with higher concentrations found in the Canadian Arctic and Pacific waters than in Greenland and the European Arctic. It also identifies some major understudied areas such as West Greenland, Aleutian Islands and Russia. Finally, we provide a thorough review of the current knowledge regarding molting patterns in Arctic seabirds, which is an essential information to interpret Hg concentrations measured in feathers. Overall, our results point out the importance of blood and feathers in seabird ecotoxicological assessments and highlight the need for large scale international collaborations and research programs.

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Section: Blood As a Tool To Monitor Hg Contamination During The Breedmentioning

confidence: 97%

Using blood and feathers to investigate large-scale Hg contamination in Arctic seabirds: A review

Albert

Renedo

Bustamante

et al. 2019

Environmental Research

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“…Extracts collected from SPE clean‐up were evaporated to approximately 50 µl and 13 C‐PCB 159 was added as a recovery standard to each sample and analyzed using an Agilent 7890 gas chromatograph equipped with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, Quattro Micro GC (Waters Corporation). Instrumental details have been previously described in the supporting information by Eckbo et al ( 2019 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in Trophic Level, Contaminant Load, and DNA Damage in an Urban and a Remote Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) Breeding Colony in Coastal Norway

Keilen

Borgå

Thorstensen

et al. 2022

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are opportunistic feeders, resulting in contaminant exposure depending on area and habitat. We compared contaminant concentrations and dietary markers between two herring gull breeding colonies with different distances to extensive human activity and presumed contaminant exposure from the local marine diet. Furthermore, we investigated the integrity of DNA in white blood cells and sensitivity to oxidative stress. We analyzed blood from 15 herring gulls from each colony—the urban Oslofjord near the Norwegian capital Oslo in the temperate region and the remote Hornøya island in northern Norway, on the Barents Sea coast. Based on d13C and d34S, the dietary sources of urban gulls differed, with some individuals having a marine and others a more terrestrial dietary signal. All remote gulls had a marine dietary signal and higher relative trophic level than the urban marine feeding gulls. Concentrations (mean ± standard deviation [SD]) of most persistent organic pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyl ethers (PCBs) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), were higher in urban marine (PCB153 17 ± 17 ng/g wet weight, PFOS 25 ± 21 ng/g wet wt) than urban terrestrial feeders (PCB153 3.7 ± 2.4 ng/g wet wt, PFOS 6.7 ± 10 ng/g wet wt). Despite feeding at a higher trophic level (d15N), the remote gulls (PCB153 17 ± 1221 ng/g wet wt, PFOS 19 ± 1421 ng/g wet wt) were similar to the urban marine feeders. Cyclic volatile methyl siloxanes were detected in only a few gulls, except for decamethylcyclopentasiloxane in the urban colony, which was found in 12 of 13 gulls. Only hexachlorobenzene was present in higher concentrations in the remote (2.6 ± 0.42 ng/g wet wt) compared with the urban colony (0.34 ± 0.33 ng/g wet wt). Baseline and induced DNA damage (doublestreak breaks) was higher in urban than in remote gulls for both terrestrial and marine feeders. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2466–2478. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

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“…Whether telomere length and telomere dynamics relate to mercury concentration has rarely been assessed and current evidence for such an association is weak at best. No association between blood mercury concentrations and relative telomere length was detectable in the Black guillemot Cepphus grylle, but this species accumulates low mercury concentrations (0.3 mg/kg; Eckbo et al, 2019). Similarly, in human children and their mothers, blood mercury concentrations were unrelated to relative telomere length and in children also unrelated to telomere shortening (Yeates et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Higher mercury contamination is associated with shorter telomeres in a long-lived seabird – A direct effect or a consequence of among-individual variation in phenotypic quality?

Bauch

Gatt

Verhulst

et al. 2022

Science of The Total Environment

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Individual variability in contaminants and physiological status in a resident Arctic seabird species

Cited by 23 publications

References 79 publications

Using blood and feathers to investigate large-scale Hg contamination in Arctic seabirds: A review

Using blood and feathers to investigate large-scale Hg contamination in Arctic seabirds: A review

Differences in Trophic Level, Contaminant Load, and DNA Damage in an Urban and a Remote Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) Breeding Colony in Coastal Norway

Higher mercury contamination is associated with shorter telomeres in a long-lived seabird – A direct effect or a consequence of among-individual variation in phenotypic quality?

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