Heavy Metal Concentrations in Feathers of the Adélie Penguin and the South-Polar Skua from Cape Royds, Ross Island
Using chemical analysis to detect traces of heavy metals is a popular technique in the science community. In this report, ICP-MS was used to analyse a sample of feathers from both Adélie Penguins and South-polar Skuas from Cape Royds, Ross Island. These two Antarctic bird species are important parts...
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ftunivcanter:oai:ir.canterbury.ac.nz:10092/14124 2023-05-15T13:55:49+02:00 Heavy Metal Concentrations in Feathers of the Adélie Penguin and the South-Polar Skua from Cape Royds, Ross Island de Hamel, Stephanie 2014 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14124 English en eng http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14124 All Rights Reserved Theses / Dissertations 2014 ftunivcanter 2022-09-08T13:32:52Z Using chemical analysis to detect traces of heavy metals is a popular technique in the science community. In this report, ICP-MS was used to analyse a sample of feathers from both Adélie Penguins and South-polar Skuas from Cape Royds, Ross Island. These two Antarctic bird species are important parts of the southern ocean ecosystem and food web, and understanding the heavy metal accumulation in these predators gives insight into the whole system of the Ross Sea. The results from this paper show that there was a significant difference in the concentrations of Al, Hg, As and Mn between the Adélie feathers and the Skua feathers (P<0.05). The higher trophic feeding level of the Skua explains the bioaccumulation of the Hg and As, but these two metals are also highly toxic to organisms in high levels. Aluminium levels were significantly higher in the Adélies and this is attributed to unsuccessful washing of the feathers and the fact that the Adélies spend more time on the ground were the Aluminium is able to stick to their feathers. Manganese is not as toxic as the other metals and is of less worry, but again, this was seen in higher levels in the Adélies and again could be attributed to possible higher levels in the soil of Cape Royds. Other metal results are compared to baseline data set in other papers in Antarctica and around the world for seabirds Other/Unknown Material Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Island Ross Sea South Polar Skuas Southern Ocean University of Canterbury, Christchurch: UC Research Repository Antarctic Southern Ocean Ross Sea Ross Island Royds ENVELOPE(166.150,166.150,-77.550,-77.550) Cape Royds ENVELOPE(166.150,166.150,-77.550,-77.550) |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of Canterbury, Christchurch: UC Research Repository |
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ftunivcanter |
language |
English |
description |
Using chemical analysis to detect traces of heavy metals is a popular technique in the science community. In this report, ICP-MS was used to analyse a sample of feathers from both Adélie Penguins and South-polar Skuas from Cape Royds, Ross Island. These two Antarctic bird species are important parts of the southern ocean ecosystem and food web, and understanding the heavy metal accumulation in these predators gives insight into the whole system of the Ross Sea. The results from this paper show that there was a significant difference in the concentrations of Al, Hg, As and Mn between the Adélie feathers and the Skua feathers (P<0.05). The higher trophic feeding level of the Skua explains the bioaccumulation of the Hg and As, but these two metals are also highly toxic to organisms in high levels. Aluminium levels were significantly higher in the Adélies and this is attributed to unsuccessful washing of the feathers and the fact that the Adélies spend more time on the ground were the Aluminium is able to stick to their feathers. Manganese is not as toxic as the other metals and is of less worry, but again, this was seen in higher levels in the Adélies and again could be attributed to possible higher levels in the soil of Cape Royds. Other metal results are compared to baseline data set in other papers in Antarctica and around the world for seabirds |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
de Hamel, Stephanie |
spellingShingle |
de Hamel, Stephanie Heavy Metal Concentrations in Feathers of the Adélie Penguin and the South-Polar Skua from Cape Royds, Ross Island |
author_facet |
de Hamel, Stephanie |
author_sort |
de Hamel, Stephanie |
title |
Heavy Metal Concentrations in Feathers of the Adélie Penguin and the South-Polar Skua from Cape Royds, Ross Island |
title_short |
Heavy Metal Concentrations in Feathers of the Adélie Penguin and the South-Polar Skua from Cape Royds, Ross Island |
title_full |
Heavy Metal Concentrations in Feathers of the Adélie Penguin and the South-Polar Skua from Cape Royds, Ross Island |
title_fullStr |
Heavy Metal Concentrations in Feathers of the Adélie Penguin and the South-Polar Skua from Cape Royds, Ross Island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Heavy Metal Concentrations in Feathers of the Adélie Penguin and the South-Polar Skua from Cape Royds, Ross Island |
title_sort |
heavy metal concentrations in feathers of the adélie penguin and the south-polar skua from cape royds, ross island |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14124 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(166.150,166.150,-77.550,-77.550) ENVELOPE(166.150,166.150,-77.550,-77.550) |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean Ross Sea Ross Island Royds Cape Royds |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean Ross Sea Ross Island Royds Cape Royds |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Island Ross Sea South Polar Skuas Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Island Ross Sea South Polar Skuas Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14124 |
op_rights |
All Rights Reserved |
_version_ |
1766262709295251456 |