Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals

Mercury contamination of oceans is prevalent worldwide and methylmercury concentrations in the mesopelagic zone (200–1000 m) are increasing more rapidly than in surface waters. Yet mercury bioaccumulation in mesopelagic predators has been understudied. Northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostri...

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Main Authors: Peterson, Sarah H., Ackerman, Joshua T., Costa, Daniel P.
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:unknown
Published: Zenodo 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2
id ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:4997253
record_format openpolar
spelling ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:4997253 2024-09-15T18:04:42+00:00 Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals Peterson, Sarah H. Ackerman, Joshua T. Costa, Daniel P. 2015-05-27 https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2 unknown Zenodo https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710 https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2 oai:zenodo.org:4997253 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode methylmercury mesopelagic predator spatial ecotoxicology Mirounga angustirostris marine mammal biogeochemistry info:eu-repo/semantics/other 2015 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j210.1098/rspb.2015.0710 2024-07-26T17:16:34Z Mercury contamination of oceans is prevalent worldwide and methylmercury concentrations in the mesopelagic zone (200–1000 m) are increasing more rapidly than in surface waters. Yet mercury bioaccumulation in mesopelagic predators has been understudied. Northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) biannually travel thousands of kilometres to forage within coastal and open-ocean regions of the northeast Pacific Ocean. We coupled satellite telemetry, diving behaviour and stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen) from 77 adult females, and showed that variability among individuals in foraging location, diving depth and δ13C values were correlated with mercury concentrations in blood and muscle. We identified three clusters of foraging strategies, and these resulted in substantially different mercury concentrations: (i) deeper-diving and offshore-foraging seals had the greatest mercury concentrations, (ii) shallower-diving and offshore-foraging seals had intermediate levels, and (iii) coastal and more northerly foraging seals had the lowest mercury concentrations. Additionally, mercury concentrations were lower at the end of the seven-month-long foraging trip (n = 31) than after the two-month- long post-breeding trip (n = 46). Our results indicate that foraging behaviour influences mercury exposure and mesopelagic predators foraging in the northeast Pacific Ocean may be at high risk for mercury bioaccumulation. Foraging behavior of northern elephant seals and mercury concentrations in blood and muscle We quantified variables for the full foraging trip (short and long foraging trip) to describe foraging behavior of northern elephant seals, using geography, diving behavior, and stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen). Most seals were weighed upon recovery. If not, then RecoveryMassEstimated was recorded as 1, meaning that the recovery mass was estimated using body composition and morphometric measurements. The ToppID is the unique ID for the individual and the foraging trip that would link with the full diving and ... Other/Unknown Material Elephant Seals Zenodo
institution Open Polar
collection Zenodo
op_collection_id ftzenodo
language unknown
topic methylmercury
mesopelagic predator
spatial ecotoxicology
Mirounga angustirostris
marine mammal
biogeochemistry
spellingShingle methylmercury
mesopelagic predator
spatial ecotoxicology
Mirounga angustirostris
marine mammal
biogeochemistry
Peterson, Sarah H.
Ackerman, Joshua T.
Costa, Daniel P.
Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals
topic_facet methylmercury
mesopelagic predator
spatial ecotoxicology
Mirounga angustirostris
marine mammal
biogeochemistry
description Mercury contamination of oceans is prevalent worldwide and methylmercury concentrations in the mesopelagic zone (200–1000 m) are increasing more rapidly than in surface waters. Yet mercury bioaccumulation in mesopelagic predators has been understudied. Northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) biannually travel thousands of kilometres to forage within coastal and open-ocean regions of the northeast Pacific Ocean. We coupled satellite telemetry, diving behaviour and stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen) from 77 adult females, and showed that variability among individuals in foraging location, diving depth and δ13C values were correlated with mercury concentrations in blood and muscle. We identified three clusters of foraging strategies, and these resulted in substantially different mercury concentrations: (i) deeper-diving and offshore-foraging seals had the greatest mercury concentrations, (ii) shallower-diving and offshore-foraging seals had intermediate levels, and (iii) coastal and more northerly foraging seals had the lowest mercury concentrations. Additionally, mercury concentrations were lower at the end of the seven-month-long foraging trip (n = 31) than after the two-month- long post-breeding trip (n = 46). Our results indicate that foraging behaviour influences mercury exposure and mesopelagic predators foraging in the northeast Pacific Ocean may be at high risk for mercury bioaccumulation. Foraging behavior of northern elephant seals and mercury concentrations in blood and muscle We quantified variables for the full foraging trip (short and long foraging trip) to describe foraging behavior of northern elephant seals, using geography, diving behavior, and stable isotopes (carbon and nitrogen). Most seals were weighed upon recovery. If not, then RecoveryMassEstimated was recorded as 1, meaning that the recovery mass was estimated using body composition and morphometric measurements. The ToppID is the unique ID for the individual and the foraging trip that would link with the full diving and ...
format Other/Unknown Material
author Peterson, Sarah H.
Ackerman, Joshua T.
Costa, Daniel P.
author_facet Peterson, Sarah H.
Ackerman, Joshua T.
Costa, Daniel P.
author_sort Peterson, Sarah H.
title Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals
title_short Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals
title_full Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals
title_fullStr Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals
title_full_unstemmed Data from: Marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals
title_sort data from: marine foraging ecology influences mercury bioaccumulation in deep-diving northern elephant seals
publisher Zenodo
publishDate 2015
url https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2
genre Elephant Seals
genre_facet Elephant Seals
op_relation https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0710
https://zenodo.org/communities/dryad
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j2
oai:zenodo.org:4997253
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tc8j210.1098/rspb.2015.0710
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