Cadaver decomposition islands around animal carcasses can facilitate establishment of various plant life. Facultative scavengers have great potential for endozoochory, and often aggregate around carcasses. Hence, they may disperse plant seeds that they ingest across the landscape towards cadaver decomposition islands. Here, we demonstrate this novel mechanism along a gradient of wild tundra reindeer carcasses. First, we show that the spatial distribution of scavenger faeces (birds and foxes) was concentrated around carcasses. Second, faeces of the predominant scavengers (corvids) commonly contained viable seeds of crowberry, a keystone species of the alpine tundra with predominantly vegetative reproduction. We suggest that cadaver decomposition islands function as endpoints for directed endozoochory by scavengers. Such a mechanism could be especially beneficial for species that rely on small-scale disturbances in soil and vegetation, such as several Nordic berry-producing species with cryptic generative reproduction.

We have investigated bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of both mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) in two lakes in southern Norway to reveal a suggested mitigating effect of Se on Hg biota accumulation. The study included analysis of total Se (Se), total Hg (Hg), and methyl-mercury (MeHg) in water, littoral and pelagic invertebrates and perch (Perca fluviatilis), together with stable isotope analysis (δ(15)N and δ(13)C) in biota. Mean dissolved Se ranged from 22 to 59ngL(-1), while Hg and MeHg in lake water ranged from 1 to 3ngL(-1) and 0.01 to 0.06ngL(-1). Biota Se and Hg concentrations (dry weight) ranged from 0.41mgSekg(-1) and 0.06mgHgkg(-1) in primary littoral invertebrates and up to 2.9mg Sekg(-1) and 3.6mgHgkg(-1) in perch. Both Hg and Se biomagnified in the food web, with a trophic magnification factor (TMF) of 4.64 for Hg and 1.29 for Se. The reported positive transfer of Se in the food web, despite the low measured dissolved Se, suggest that a major proportion of the Se in these lakes are both highly bioavailable and bioaccumulative. However, we did not find support for a Se-facilitated inhibition in the accumulation of Hg in perch, as Se and Hg concentrations in perch muscle correlated positively and Se did not explain any variations in Hg after we controlled for the effects of other important covariates. We postulate that this may be a result of insufficient concentrations of dissolved Se and subsequently in biota in our studied lakes for an efficient Hg sequestration up the food web.

Lethal and sublethal effects of ammonia toxicity to juvenile barramundi (Lates calcarifer) were investigated under laboratory conditions following the OECD guidelines for testing of chemicals. Acute toxicity was tested in a static nonrenewal system at pH 9.0 and temperature around 29 degrees C. The 24-, 48-, and 96-h LC(50) values for barramundi were 3.89, 3.67, and 3.31 mg total ammonia N L(-1) and 1.59, 1.47, and 1.3 mg nonionized ammonia N L(-1), respectively. Estimated lethal concentrations indicated a relatively high sensitivity to acute ammonia toxicity for barramundi and equaled the 25th percentile most sensitive North American fish species with regard to the species mean acute value (USEPA 1999). A 3-week postexposure experiment on surviving individuals from the acute toxicity test, in clean water, indicated that exposure to acute concentrations up to 1.16 mg nonionized ammonia N L(-1) did not have any significant effects on growth.

This study is based on monthly sampling of fish from grates mounted at an industrial water intake, located at a depth of 50 m in Lake Norsjø (Southern Norway) during the year 2014, to investigate seasonal variations in the use of the profundal habitat and subsequent variations in total Hg-concentrations in profundal fish. Data on various fish present in a cold and dark hypolimnion of a large, deep, dimictic lake within the upper temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere are rare. While predominant species such as A. charr (Salvelinus alpinus) and E. smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) were continuously present in this habitat, whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) occupied this habitat primarily during wintertime, while other common species like brown trout (Salmo trutta), perch (Perca fluviatilis) and northern pike (Esox lucius) were almost absent. Besides stomach analyses (diet) and biometry, stable isotope analyses (δ 15 N and δ 13 C) and total mercury (Tot-Hg) analyses were carried out on the caught fish. The δ 13 C signature and stomach analyses revealed a combined profundal-pelagic diet for all three species, A. charr with the most profundal-based diet. Length was the strongest predictor for Hg in whitefish and A. charr, while age was the strongest explanatory variable for Hg in E. smelt. A. charr was the only species exhibiting seasonal variation in Hg, highest during winter and spring.

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