Circumpolar assessment of mercury contamination: the Adélie penguin as a bioindicator of Antarctic marine ecosystems

• Published in: Ecotoxicology
• Main Authors: Cusset, Fanny, Bustamante, Paco, Carravieri, Alice, Bertin, Clément, Brasso, Rebecka, Corsi, Ilaria, Dunn, Michael, Emmerson, Louise, Guillou, Gaël, Hart, Tom, Juáres, Mariana, Kato, Akiko, Machado-Gaye, Ana, Laura, Michelot, Candice, Olmastroni, Silvia, Polito, Michael, Raclot, Thierry, Santos, Mercedes, Schmidt, Annie, Southwell, Colin, Soutullo, Alvaro, Takahashi, Akinori, Thiebot, Jean-Baptiste, Trathan, Phil, Vivion, Pierre, Waluda, Claire, Fort, Jérôme, Cherel, Yves
• Other Authors: LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (M.E.N.E.S.R.), Department of Zoology, Weber State University USA, Weber State University, Department of Environmental Sciences "G. Sarfatti", Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali "G. Sarfatti", Università degli Studi di Siena = University of Siena (UNISI), Natural Environment Research Council - British Antarctic Survey Cambridge, UK, British Antarctic Survey NERC UK, Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy, Department of Biological and Medicinal Sciences Oxford, UK, Oxford Brookes University, Departamento Biología de Predadores Tope Argentina, Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA), Centro Universitario Regional del Este, Universidad de la República Montevideo (UDELAR), Institut Maurice-Lamontagne, Ministère des Pêches et des Océans, Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment Siena (DSFTA), Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA, USA, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Instituto Antártico Argentino, Point Blue Conservation Petaluma, CA, USA, National Institute of Polar Research Tokyo (NiPR), British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), institut Universitaire de France
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Feathers; Hg; Marine food web; Seabirds; Stable Isotopes; Southern Ocean; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Ross Sea; Antarc*; Pygoscelis adeliae
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04262317; https://hal.science/hal-04262317/document; https://hal.science/hal-04262317/file/Cusset%20et%20al.%202023%20Ecotoxicology.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-023-02709-9

International audience Due to its persistence and potential ecological and health impacts, mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant of major concern that may reach high concentrations even in remote polar oceans. In contrast to the Arctic Ocean, studies documenting Hg contamination in the Southern Ocean are spatially restricted and large-scale monitoring is needed. Here, we present the first circumpolar assessment of Hg contamination in Antarctic marine ecosystems. Specifically, the Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) was used as a bioindicator species, to examine regional variation across 24 colonies distributed across the entire Antarctic continent. Mercury was measured on body feathers collected from both adults (n = 485) and chicks (n = 48) between 2005 and 2021. Because penguins' diet represents the dominant source of Hg, feather δ 13 C and δ 15 N values were measured as proxies of feeding habitat and trophic position. As expected, chicks had lower Hg concentrations (mean ± SD: 0.22 ± 0.08 μg•g-1) than adults (0.49 ± 0.23 μg•g-1), likely because of their shorter bioaccumulation period. In adults, spatial variation in feather Hg concentrations was driven by both trophic ecology and colony location. The highest Hg concentrations were observed in the Ross Sea, possibly because of a higher consumption of fish in the diet compared to other sites (krill-dominated diet). Such large-scale assessments are critical to assess the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Owing to their circumpolar distribution and their ecological role in Antarctic marine ecosystems, Adélie penguins could be valuable bioindicators for tracking spatial and temporal trends of Hg across Antarctic waters in the future.