Wintering in the Western Subarctic Pacific Increases Mercury Contamination of Red-Legged Kittiwakes
Marine methylmercury concentrations vary geographically and with depth, exposing organisms to different mercury levels in different habitats. Red-legged kittiwakes (Rissa brevirostris), a specialist predator, forage on fish and invertebrates from the mesopelagic zone, a part of the ocean with elevat...
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Online Access: | https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/faculty_rsca/4270 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b03421 https://works.bepress.com/scott_shaffer/82/download/ |
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ftsanjosestate:oai:scholarworks.sjsu.edu:faculty_rsca-5269 2024-05-19T07:49:10+00:00 Wintering in the Western Subarctic Pacific Increases Mercury Contamination of Red-Legged Kittiwakes Fleishman, Abram Orben, Rachael Kokubun, Nobuo Will, Alexis Paredes, Rosana Ackerman, Joshua Takahashi, Akinori Kitaysky, Alexander Shaffer, Scott 2019-11-06T08:00:00Z https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/faculty_rsca/4270 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b03421 https://works.bepress.com/scott_shaffer/82/download/ unknown SJSU ScholarWorks https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/faculty_rsca/4270 doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b03421 https://works.bepress.com/scott_shaffer/82/download/ Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity Biology Marine Biology text 2019 ftsanjosestate https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b03421 2024-04-30T23:54:45Z Marine methylmercury concentrations vary geographically and with depth, exposing organisms to different mercury levels in different habitats. Red-legged kittiwakes (Rissa brevirostris), a specialist predator, forage on fish and invertebrates from the mesopelagic zone, a part of the ocean with elevated methylmercury concentrations. We used kittiwakes as bioindicators of MeHg concentrations in remote mesopelagic systems by examining how wintering distribution and habitat affected kittiwakes’ mercury exposure. In 2011–2017, we sampled winter-grown feathers on St. George Island, Alaska, from birds equipped with geolocation loggers. We measured total mercury (THg) and nitrogen stable isotopes in nape and head feathers grown during winter, respectively. THg concentration of kittiwake nape feathers averaged 4.61 ± 0.97 μg/g dry weight. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to classify winter habitats with remotely sensed environmental variables along each bird’s track. Five habitat clusters were identified. Birds that spent more time in the Western Subarctic Gyre and those that wintered further south had elevated THg concentrations. In contrast to THg, trophic level varied annually but did not show strong spatial patterns. Our results documented spatial variability in THg exposure based on the oceanic wintering locations of red-legged kittiwakes and highlight their use as a bioindicator of MeHg across ocean basins. Text Subarctic Alaska San José State University: SJSU ScholarWorks Environmental Science & Technology 53 22 13398 13407 |
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San José State University: SJSU ScholarWorks |
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unknown |
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Biology Marine Biology |
spellingShingle |
Biology Marine Biology Fleishman, Abram Orben, Rachael Kokubun, Nobuo Will, Alexis Paredes, Rosana Ackerman, Joshua Takahashi, Akinori Kitaysky, Alexander Shaffer, Scott Wintering in the Western Subarctic Pacific Increases Mercury Contamination of Red-Legged Kittiwakes |
topic_facet |
Biology Marine Biology |
description |
Marine methylmercury concentrations vary geographically and with depth, exposing organisms to different mercury levels in different habitats. Red-legged kittiwakes (Rissa brevirostris), a specialist predator, forage on fish and invertebrates from the mesopelagic zone, a part of the ocean with elevated methylmercury concentrations. We used kittiwakes as bioindicators of MeHg concentrations in remote mesopelagic systems by examining how wintering distribution and habitat affected kittiwakes’ mercury exposure. In 2011–2017, we sampled winter-grown feathers on St. George Island, Alaska, from birds equipped with geolocation loggers. We measured total mercury (THg) and nitrogen stable isotopes in nape and head feathers grown during winter, respectively. THg concentration of kittiwake nape feathers averaged 4.61 ± 0.97 μg/g dry weight. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to classify winter habitats with remotely sensed environmental variables along each bird’s track. Five habitat clusters were identified. Birds that spent more time in the Western Subarctic Gyre and those that wintered further south had elevated THg concentrations. In contrast to THg, trophic level varied annually but did not show strong spatial patterns. Our results documented spatial variability in THg exposure based on the oceanic wintering locations of red-legged kittiwakes and highlight their use as a bioindicator of MeHg across ocean basins. |
format |
Text |
author |
Fleishman, Abram Orben, Rachael Kokubun, Nobuo Will, Alexis Paredes, Rosana Ackerman, Joshua Takahashi, Akinori Kitaysky, Alexander Shaffer, Scott |
author_facet |
Fleishman, Abram Orben, Rachael Kokubun, Nobuo Will, Alexis Paredes, Rosana Ackerman, Joshua Takahashi, Akinori Kitaysky, Alexander Shaffer, Scott |
author_sort |
Fleishman, Abram |
title |
Wintering in the Western Subarctic Pacific Increases Mercury Contamination of Red-Legged Kittiwakes |
title_short |
Wintering in the Western Subarctic Pacific Increases Mercury Contamination of Red-Legged Kittiwakes |
title_full |
Wintering in the Western Subarctic Pacific Increases Mercury Contamination of Red-Legged Kittiwakes |
title_fullStr |
Wintering in the Western Subarctic Pacific Increases Mercury Contamination of Red-Legged Kittiwakes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Wintering in the Western Subarctic Pacific Increases Mercury Contamination of Red-Legged Kittiwakes |
title_sort |
wintering in the western subarctic pacific increases mercury contamination of red-legged kittiwakes |
publisher |
SJSU ScholarWorks |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/faculty_rsca/4270 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b03421 https://works.bepress.com/scott_shaffer/82/download/ |
genre |
Subarctic Alaska |
genre_facet |
Subarctic Alaska |
op_source |
Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity |
op_relation |
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/faculty_rsca/4270 doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b03421 https://works.bepress.com/scott_shaffer/82/download/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b03421 |
container_title |
Environmental Science & Technology |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
22 |
container_start_page |
13398 |
op_container_end_page |
13407 |
_version_ |
1799467634457051136 |