Trophic transfer of contaminants in a changing arctic marine food web: Cumberland sound, Nunavut, Canada

Contaminant dynamics in arctic marine food webs may be impacted by current climate-induced food web changes including increases in transient/subarctic species. We quantified food web organochlorine transfer in the Cumberland Sound (Nunavut, Canada) arctic marine food web in the presence of transient...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Science & Technology
Main Authors: McKinney, Melissa A., McMeans, Bailey C., Tomy, Gregg T., Rosenberg, Bruno, Ferguson, Steven H., Morris, Adam, Muir, Derek C.G., Fisk, Aaron T.
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: Scholarship at UWindsor 2012
Subjects:
Arctic
Nunavut
Canada
Greenland
Cumberland Sound
Beluga
Beluga whale
Beluga*
Climate change
Harp Seal
narwhal*
ringed seal
Subarctic
Online Access:https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/384
https://doi.org/10.1021/es302761p
Description
Summary:Contaminant dynamics in arctic marine food webs may be impacted by current climate-induced food web changes including increases in transient/subarctic species. We quantified food web organochlorine transfer in the Cumberland Sound (Nunavut, Canada) arctic marine food web in the presence of transient species using species-specific biomagnification factors (BMFs), trophic magnification factors (TMFs), and a multifactor model that included δ15N- derived trophic position and species habitat range (transient versus resident), and also considered δ13C-derived carbon source, thermoregulatory group, and season. Transient/subarctic species relative to residents had higher prey-to-predator BMFs of biomagnifying contaminants (1.4 to 62 for harp seal, Greenland shark, and narwhal versus 1.1 to 20 for ringed seal, arctic skate, and beluga whale, respectively). For contaminants that biomagnified in a transient-and-resident food web and a resident-only food web scenario, TMFs were higher in the former (2.3 to 10.1) versus the latter (1.7 to 4.0). Transient/subarctic species have higher tissue contaminant levels and greater BMFs likely due to higher energetic requirements associated with long-distance movements or consumption of more contaminated prey in regions outside of Cumberland Sound. These results demonstrate that, in addition to climate change-related long-range transport/deposition/revolatilization changes, increasing numbers of transient/subarctic animals may alter food web contaminant dynamics. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

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