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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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4590481 2023-05-15T16:05:38+02:00 Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals Peterson, Sarah H. Ackerman, Joshua T. Costa, Daniel P. 2015-07-07 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590481/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26085591 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590481/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26085591 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Research Articles Text 2015 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 2016-07-10T00:01:21Z 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. Text Elephant Seals PubMed Central (PMC) Pacific Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282 1810 20150710 |
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Research Articles Peterson, Sarah H. Ackerman, Joshua T. Costa, Daniel P. Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
topic_facet |
Research Articles |
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 |
Text |
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 |
Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_short |
Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_full |
Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_fullStr |
Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
title_sort |
marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590481/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26085591 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590481/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26085591 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 |
op_rights |
© 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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282 |
container_issue |
1810 |
container_start_page |
20150710 |
_version_ |
1766401533961830400 |