Using blood and feathers to investigate large-scale Hg contamination in Arctic seabirds: A review

• Published in: Environmental Research
• Main Authors: Albert, Céline, Renedo, Marina, Bustamante, Paco, Fort, Jérôme
• Other Authors: LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (GET), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), ANR-16-CE34-0005,ILETOP,Impact des polluants historiques et émergents sur les prédateurs supérieurs marins de l'Arctique(2016), ANR-16-TERC-0004,MAMBA,Contamination par le mercure des écosystèmes arctiques : sources, niveaux et impacts(2016)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: seabirds; spatial ecotoxicology; molting pattern; mercury; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; [SDV.TOX.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Toxicology/Ecotoxicology; Arctic; Greenland; Pacific; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02318368; https://hal.science/hal-02318368/document; https://hal.science/hal-02318368/file/Albert%20et%20al%202020%20ENV%20RES.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.108588

International audience Mercury (Hg), because of its deleterious effects on wildlife and its high concentrations in polar regions, has been widely studied in the Arctic. This provided important information regarding food web contamination, spatial and temporal trends of Hg in ecosystems or risk assessments for wildlife and Humans. Among the Arctic biota, seabirds have been among the most studied species due to their sensitivity to this toxicant, their role as bioindicators of the contamination status of their environment, and their consumption by Arctic communities. However, most studies which investigated Hg in Arctic seabirds focused on measurements in internal organs or in eggs, while few investigations has been performed on blood and feathers, despite the relevant and complementary information they provide. Here, we first provide a detailed overview of the specific information blood and feathers can bring when investigating Hg contamination of Arctic seabirds, including new knowledge on the poorly studied non-breeding period. Second, we performed a comprehensive review of the use of blood and feathers as non-lethal tissues to study Hg in Arctic seabirds. This review demonstrates important interspecific variations in Hg blood concentrations according to bird trophic status, with seaducks having generally the lowest Hg concentrations while auks have the highest ones, although all concentrations are below admitted toxicity thresholds. Hg concentrations in feathers follow similar trends, although gulls appear to be the most contaminated species, likely as a consequence of contrasting migratory and overwintering strategies. Overall, this review also confirms strong spatial variations with higher concentrations found in the Canadian Arctic and Pacific waters than in Greenland and the European Arctic. It also identifies some major understudied areas like in West Greenland, Aleutian Islands and Russia. Finally, we provide a thorough review of the current knowledge regarding molting patterns in Arctic seabirds, an ...