Mercury accumulation and excretion in laboratory reared black-headed gullLarus ridibundus chicks

Lewis, S. A.; Furness, Robert W.

doi:10.1007/bf01055352

Cited by 188 publications

(149 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Once ingested, contaminants can be excreted directly or absorbed. Subsequently metals are delivered to target organs or sequestered in feathers (Braune 1987;Lewis and Furness 1991) or other tissues. Kim et al (1996) recently suggested that some pelagic seabirds (albatrosses and petrels) are capable of demethylating methylmercury in the liver, and storing it as an immobilizable inorganic form, however the mercury in feathers is almost 100 % methylmercury (Thompson et al 1991).…”

Section: Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increasingly governmental agencies, Tribal Nations, public policy makers, managers, and the public are interested in levels of contaminants in wildlife that could prove a problem to either the wildlife themselves or to organisms that consume them. Marine birds are useful as bioindicatiors of environmental pollution (Walsh 1990;Peakall 1992;Monteiro and Furness 1995;Furness and Camphuysen 1997) because they are exposed to a wide range of chemicals and occupy high trophic levels, making them susceptible to bioaccumulation of pollutants (Lewis and Furness 1991;Burger and Gochfeld 2002;Nygard et al 2001). Since most marine birds nest in colonies, local birds can be followed for many years (Burger and Gochfeld 2004;Scheifler et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparison of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury and selenium in feathers in bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and comparison with common eider (Somateria mollissima), glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba), and tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) from the Aleutian Chain of Alaska

Burger

Gochfeld

2008

Environ Monit Assess

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Comparison of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury and selenium in feathers in bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and comparison with common eider (Somateria mollissima), glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba), and tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) from the Aleutian Chain of Alaska AbstractThere is an abundance of field data for levels of metals from a range of places, but relatively few from the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. In this paper we examine the levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury and selenium in feathers from common eiders (Somateria mollissima), glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens), pigeon guillemots (Cepphus columba), tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) and bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) from the Aleutian Chain of Alaska. Our primary objective was to test the hypothesis that there are no trophic levels relationships for arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury and selenium among these five species of birds breeding in the marine environment of the Aleutians. There were significant interspecific differences in all metal levels. As predicted bald eagles had the highest levels of arsenic, chromium, lead, and manganese, but puffins had the highest levels of selenium, and pigeon guillemot had higher levels of mercury than eagles (although the differences were not significant). Common eiders, at the lowest trophic level had the lowest levels of some metals (chromium, mercury and selenium). However, eiders had higher levels than all other species (except eagles) for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and manganese. Levels of lead were higher in breast than in wing feathers of bald eagles. Except for lead, there were no significant differences in metal levels in feathers of bald eagles nesting on Adak and Amchitka Island; lead was higher on Adak than Amchitka. Eagle chicks tended to have lower levels of manganese than older eagles.

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Section: Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury and selenium in feathers in bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and comparison with common eider (Somateria mollissima), glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba), and tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) from the Aleutian Chain of Alaska

Burger

Gochfeld

2008

Environ Monit Assess

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“…Because of this, contamination levels in their body tissues and eggs have been used as biomonitors of exposure to persistent pollutants (Fox et al, 1991;Bishop et al, 1995). Coastal birds are good bioindicators because they reveal current environmental exposure and respond relatively rapidly to contamination events (Lewis and Furness, 1991). Eggs are considered a particularly favourable matrix for monitoring because the contents are highly consistent in composition and reflect the exposure of a consistent part of the population (breeding females).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term trends in mercury and PCB congener concentrations in gannet (Morus bassanus) eggs in Britain

Pereira

Walker

Best

et al. 2009

Environmental Pollution

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“…1986). If nestlings are used, little variation arises from feather growth sequence in some species (Lewis & Furness, 1991;Thompson et al, 1991). It can be anticipated that m species where feather development occurs late in growth, mercury may accumulate in soft tissues until the opportunity arises for elimination into plumage.…”

Section: Feathers As Monitors Of Mercurymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dietary assimilation of methylmercury by birds is consistently very high, though most inorganic mercury ingested is voided in faeces. Mercury is incorporated into feathers as they grow, and this has been shown experimentally to occur in a dose-dependent fashion (Scheuhammer, 1987;Lewis & Furness, 1991). All the mercury in feathers is methylmercury (Thompson & Furness, 1989a), and this allows a biochemical fractionation to be used to remove any inorganic mercury that has been deposited onto the feather from the atmosphere, or as dust in a museum drawer.…”

Section: Feathers As Monitors Of Mercurymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal variation in mercury contamination of seabirds in the North Sea

Furness

Thompson

Becker

1995

Helgolander Meeresunters

Self Cite

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Once the moult patterns have been taken into account, feather methylmercury levels can be used to accurately measure the mercury burdens of seabirds. We used body feathers from live seabirds and from museum collections to examine geographical and temporal patterns of mercury contamination in the North Sea. This approach identifies an increase in mercury concentrations in seabirds of the German North Sea coast during the last 100 years, especially high levels during the 1940s, and reduced contamination in the last few years. Comparisons among populations suggest that some increases in mercury levels are predominantly due to local pollution inputs, as on the German coast, while in other areas deposition from jet stream circulation of global contamination may be the major contributor. Mercury levels are far higher in seabirds from the German North Sea coast than in populations from the north and west North Sea or from most areas of the North Atlantic. We advocate the use of museum collections of birds for studies of long-term changes in levels of mercury contamination.

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Mercury accumulation and excretion in laboratory reared black-headed gullLarus ridibundus chicks

Cited by 188 publications

References 24 publications

Long-term trends in mercury and PCB congener concentrations in gannet (Morus bassanus) eggs in Britain

Spatial and temporal variation in mercury contamination of seabirds in the North Sea

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