Mercury Levels in Feathers of Penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula Area: Geographical and Inter-Specific Differences
Polar regions, symbols of wilderness, have been identified as potential sinks of mercury coming from natural and anthropogenic sources at lower latitudes. Changes in ice coverage currently occurring in some areas such as the Antarctic Peninsula could enhance these phenomena and their impacts on loca...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8471030 2023-05-15T14:01:56+02:00 Mercury Levels in Feathers of Penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula Area: Geographical and Inter-Specific Differences Motas, Miguel Jerez, Silvia Esteban, Marta Valera, Francisco Cuervo, José Javier Barbosa, Andrés 2021-09-21 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8471030/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574839 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189918 en eng MDPI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8471030/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574839 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189918 © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Text 2021 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189918 2021-10-03T01:09:13Z Polar regions, symbols of wilderness, have been identified as potential sinks of mercury coming from natural and anthropogenic sources at lower latitudes. Changes in ice coverage currently occurring in some areas such as the Antarctic Peninsula could enhance these phenomena and their impacts on local biota. As long-lived species at the top of food chains, seabirds are particularly sensitive to this highly toxic metal with the capacity to be biomagnified. Specifically, their feathers can be useful for Hg monitoring since they mainly accumulate its most toxic and persistent form, methyl-Hg. To that end, feathers of gentoo (Pygoscelis papua), chinstrap (P. antarcticus), and Adélie penguins (P. adeliae) (n = 108) were collected by passive sampling in seven different locations throughout the Antarctic Peninsula area and analyzed by ICP-MS after microwave-digestion. More than 93% of the samples showed detectable Hg levels (range: 6.3–12,529.8 ng g(−1) dry weight), and the highest ones were found in the feathers of chinstrap penguins from King George Island. Hg bioconcentration and biomagnification seem to be occurring in the Antarctic food web, giving rise to high but non-toxic Hg levels in penguins, similar to those previously found in Arctic seabirds. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula antarcticus Arctic King George Island Pygoscelis papua PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Arctic King George Island The Antarctic International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 18 9918 |
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Article Motas, Miguel Jerez, Silvia Esteban, Marta Valera, Francisco Cuervo, José Javier Barbosa, Andrés Mercury Levels in Feathers of Penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula Area: Geographical and Inter-Specific Differences |
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description |
Polar regions, symbols of wilderness, have been identified as potential sinks of mercury coming from natural and anthropogenic sources at lower latitudes. Changes in ice coverage currently occurring in some areas such as the Antarctic Peninsula could enhance these phenomena and their impacts on local biota. As long-lived species at the top of food chains, seabirds are particularly sensitive to this highly toxic metal with the capacity to be biomagnified. Specifically, their feathers can be useful for Hg monitoring since they mainly accumulate its most toxic and persistent form, methyl-Hg. To that end, feathers of gentoo (Pygoscelis papua), chinstrap (P. antarcticus), and Adélie penguins (P. adeliae) (n = 108) were collected by passive sampling in seven different locations throughout the Antarctic Peninsula area and analyzed by ICP-MS after microwave-digestion. More than 93% of the samples showed detectable Hg levels (range: 6.3–12,529.8 ng g(−1) dry weight), and the highest ones were found in the feathers of chinstrap penguins from King George Island. Hg bioconcentration and biomagnification seem to be occurring in the Antarctic food web, giving rise to high but non-toxic Hg levels in penguins, similar to those previously found in Arctic seabirds. |
format |
Text |
author |
Motas, Miguel Jerez, Silvia Esteban, Marta Valera, Francisco Cuervo, José Javier Barbosa, Andrés |
author_facet |
Motas, Miguel Jerez, Silvia Esteban, Marta Valera, Francisco Cuervo, José Javier Barbosa, Andrés |
author_sort |
Motas, Miguel |
title |
Mercury Levels in Feathers of Penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula Area: Geographical and Inter-Specific Differences |
title_short |
Mercury Levels in Feathers of Penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula Area: Geographical and Inter-Specific Differences |
title_full |
Mercury Levels in Feathers of Penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula Area: Geographical and Inter-Specific Differences |
title_fullStr |
Mercury Levels in Feathers of Penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula Area: Geographical and Inter-Specific Differences |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mercury Levels in Feathers of Penguins from the Antarctic Peninsula Area: Geographical and Inter-Specific Differences |
title_sort |
mercury levels in feathers of penguins from the antarctic peninsula area: geographical and inter-specific differences |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8471030/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574839 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189918 |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Arctic King George Island The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Arctic King George Island The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula antarcticus Arctic King George Island Pygoscelis papua |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula antarcticus Arctic King George Island Pygoscelis papua |
op_source |
Int J Environ Res Public Health |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8471030/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574839 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189918 |
op_rights |
© 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189918 |
container_title |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
18 |
container_start_page |
9918 |
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1766271995085848576 |