Regional, temporal, and species patterns of mercury in Alaskan seabird eggs: Mercury sources and cycling or food web effects?

• Published in: Environmental Pollution
• Main Authors: Day, R.D., Roseneau, D.G., Vander Pol, S.S., Hobson, K.A., Donard, O.F.X., Pugh, R.S., Moors, A.J., Becker, P.R.
• Other Authors: Institut des sciences analytiques et de physico-chimie pour l'environnement et les materiaux (IPREM), Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (UPPA)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: [CHIM.ANAL]Chemical Sciences/Analytical chemistry; Bering Sea; Bering Strait; Gulf of Alaska; Norton Sound; Yukon; Larus hyperboreus; Seward Peninsula; Uria aalge; Yukon river; Alaska; uria
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01590294; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2012.03.004

cited By 13 International audience Mercury concentration ([Hg]), δ15N, and δ13C values were measured in eggs from common murres (Uria aalge), thick-billed murres (U. lomvia), glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus), and glaucous-winged gulls (L. glaucescens) collected in Alaska from 1999 to 2005. [Hg] was normalized to a common trophic level using egg δ15N values and published Hg trophic magnification factors. Egg [Hg] was higher in murres from Gulf of Alaska, Cook Inlet, and Norton Sound regions compared to Bering Sea and Bering Strait regions, independent of trophic level. We believe the Yukon River outflow and terrestrial Hg sources on the southern Seward Peninsula are responsible for the elevated [Hg] in Norton Sound eggs. Normalizing for trophic level generally diminished or eliminated differences in [Hg] among taxa, but temporal variability was unrelated to trophic level. Normalizing murre egg [Hg] by trophic level improves the confidence in regional comparisons of Hg sources and biogeochemical cycling in Alaska. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.