Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals
Mercury contamination of oceans is prevalent worldwide and methylmercury concentrations in the mesopelagic zone (200–1000 m) are increasing more rapidly than in surface waters. Yet mercury bioaccumulation in mesopelagic predators has been understudied. Northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostri...
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ftdryad:oai:v1.datadryad.org:10255/dryad.87919 2023-05-15T16:05:38+02:00 Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals Peterson, Sarah H. Ackerman, Joshua T. Costa, Daniel P. North Pacific 2015-05-27T17:44:30Z http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.87919 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2 unknown doi:10.5061/dryad.tc8j2/1 doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 PMID:26085591 doi:10.5061/dryad.tc8j2 Peterson SH, Ackerman JT, Costa DP (2015) Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282(1810): 20150710. http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.87919 mesopelagic predator spatial ecotoxicology marine mammal pinniped biogeochemistry methylmercury Article 2015 ftdryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2/1 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 2020-01-01T15:20:07Z Mercury contamination of oceans is prevalent worldwide and methylmercury concentrations in the mesopelagic zone (200–1000 m) are increasing more rapidly than in surface waters. Yet mercury bioaccumulation in mesopelagic predators has been understudied. Northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) biannually travel thousands of kilometres to forage within coastal and open-ocean regions of the northeast Pacific Ocean. We coupled satellite telemetry, diving behaviour and stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen) from 77 adult females, and showed that variability among individuals in foraging location, diving depth and δ13C values were correlated with mercury concentrations in blood and muscle. We identified three clusters of foraging strategies, and these resulted in substantially different mercury concentrations: (i) deeper-diving and offshore-foraging seals had the greatest mercury concentrations, (ii) shallower-diving and offshore-foraging seals had intermediate levels, and (iii) coastal and more northerly foraging seals had the lowest mercury concentrations. Additionally, mercury concentrations were lower at the end of the seven-month-long foraging trip (n = 31) than after the two-month- long post-breeding trip (n = 46). Our results indicate that foraging behaviour influences mercury exposure and mesopelagic predators foraging in the northeast Pacific Ocean may be at high risk for mercury bioaccumulation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seals Dryad Digital Repository (Duke University) Pacific |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Dryad Digital Repository (Duke University) |
op_collection_id |
ftdryad |
language |
unknown |
topic |
mesopelagic predator spatial ecotoxicology marine mammal pinniped biogeochemistry methylmercury |
spellingShingle |
mesopelagic predator spatial ecotoxicology marine mammal pinniped biogeochemistry methylmercury Peterson, Sarah H. Ackerman, Joshua T. Costa, Daniel P. Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
topic_facet |
mesopelagic predator spatial ecotoxicology marine mammal pinniped biogeochemistry methylmercury |
description |
Mercury contamination of oceans is prevalent worldwide and methylmercury concentrations in the mesopelagic zone (200–1000 m) are increasing more rapidly than in surface waters. Yet mercury bioaccumulation in mesopelagic predators has been understudied. Northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) biannually travel thousands of kilometres to forage within coastal and open-ocean regions of the northeast Pacific Ocean. We coupled satellite telemetry, diving behaviour and stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen) from 77 adult females, and showed that variability among individuals in foraging location, diving depth and δ13C values were correlated with mercury concentrations in blood and muscle. We identified three clusters of foraging strategies, and these resulted in substantially different mercury concentrations: (i) deeper-diving and offshore-foraging seals had the greatest mercury concentrations, (ii) shallower-diving and offshore-foraging seals had intermediate levels, and (iii) coastal and more northerly foraging seals had the lowest mercury concentrations. Additionally, mercury concentrations were lower at the end of the seven-month-long foraging trip (n = 31) than after the two-month- long post-breeding trip (n = 46). Our results indicate that foraging behaviour influences mercury exposure and mesopelagic predators foraging in the northeast Pacific Ocean may be at high risk for mercury bioaccumulation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Peterson, Sarah H. Ackerman, Joshua T. Costa, Daniel P. |
author_facet |
Peterson, Sarah H. Ackerman, Joshua T. Costa, Daniel P. |
author_sort |
Peterson, Sarah H. |
title |
Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_short |
Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_full |
Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_fullStr |
Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_sort |
data from: marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.87919 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2 |
op_coverage |
North Pacific |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals |
op_relation |
doi:10.5061/dryad.tc8j2/1 doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 PMID:26085591 doi:10.5061/dryad.tc8j2 Peterson SH, Ackerman JT, Costa DP (2015) Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282(1810): 20150710. http://hdl.handle.net/10255/dryad.87919 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2/1 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 |
_version_ |
1766401539814981632 |