Total and Methylmercury in Soft Tissues of White-Tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) and Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) Collected in Poland

Mercury (Hg) contamination in piscivorous birds, especially methylmercury (MeHg), has been drawing much attention worldwide in regard to its bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food chains. In this study on Hg in the soft tissues of white-tailed eagles (n = 22) and ospreys (n = 2) from Poland, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AMBIO
Main Authors: Kalisinska, Elzbieta, Gorecki, Jerzy, Lanocha, Natalia, Okonska, Anna, Melgarejo, Javier B., Budis, Halina, Rzad, Izabella, Golas, Jerzy
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Springer Netherlands 2014
Subjects:
Report
Haliaeetus albicilla
White-tailed eagle
osprey
Pandion haliaetus
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4190150
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24870933
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0533-8
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Summary:Mercury (Hg) contamination in piscivorous birds, especially methylmercury (MeHg), has been drawing much attention worldwide in regard to its bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food chains. In this study on Hg in the soft tissues of white-tailed eagles (n = 22) and ospreys (n = 2) from Poland, total Hg (THg) range was 0.15–47.6 while MeHg range was 0.11–8.05 mg kg−1 dry weight. In both species, median THg and MeHg concentrations were lower in the muscle and brain than in the liver and kidney. Median nephric residues were just under 3 and 5 mgTHg kg−1 or 0.9 and 3.7 mgMeHg kg−1 for white-tailed eagle and osprey, respectively. In Norwegian data from the 1970s and in our results, MeHg in the muscle of white-tailed eagle was ~60 % THg (%MeHg = MeHg/THg × 100), lower than in other piscivorous birds. A clear similarity in THg tissue levels was found between Polish and German populations of white-tailed eagles.

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