Mercury concentrations in multiple tissues of Arctic Iceland Gulls (Larus glaucoides) wintering in Newfoundland

Abstract

Anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emissions are increasing and are potentially of concern for Arctic-nesting seabirds, particularly those that spend part of their year near dense human habitation. Iceland Gulls (Larus glaucoides B. Meyer, 1822) breed in the eastern Canadian Arctic and spend the majority of winter in towns and cities in eastern Newfoundland. We measured Hg in breast feathers, blood plasma, and red blood cells of Iceland Gulls wintering in and around St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, from 2011 to 2014. Mercury in blood plasma comprised <10% of the total blood Hg. We found no difference in red blood cell Hg between first-winter and adult birds, which likely reflects their similar feeding habits. Feather Hg in adults was significantly greater than that in first-winter birds because adults had accumulated a greater body Hg burden to excrete (up to a year, compared with a few months' accumulation in first-winter birds). Overall, concentrations were among the lowest found for Larus spp. and Arctic gulls, suggesting that Hg does not pose a risk to Iceland Gulls at the present.

Genomic data reveal international lineages of critical priority Escherichia coli harbouring wide resistome in Andean condors (Vultur gryphus Linnaeus, 1758)

“…Metals such as arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) do not degrade and these metals could easily accumulate throughout the trophic chain and persist in nature (Borchert, Leaphart, Bryan, & Beasley, 2019; Burger, Mizrahi, Tsipoura, Jeitner, & Gochfeld, 2018; Vizuete et al, 2018); at the same time, As, Cd, Pb and Hg have no established biological functions and are considered as contaminants (Hejna et al., 2018). The presence of HMs has been registered in tissues of wild birds (Bond & Robertson, 2015; Burger et al., 2018; Majidi, Bahramifar, & Ghasempouri, 2015; Sepúlveda & Gonzalez‐Acuña, 2014), including the Andean condor (Di Marzio et al., 2018; Plaza et al, 2019; Wiemeyer et al., 2017). Due to the HM toxicity to different organisms, bacteria have developed some resistance mechanisms and have managed to persist in various highly contaminated locations, constituting possible biomarkers of environmental contamination (Di Cesare, Eckert, & Corno, 2016; Martins, Zanetti, Pitondo‐Silva, & Stehling, 2014; Paul, Chakraborty, & Mandal, 2019; Raychaudhuri et al., 2007).…”

“…Metals such as arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) do not degrade and these metals could easily accumulate throughout the trophic chain and persist in nature (Borchert, Leaphart, Bryan, & Beasley, 2019;Burger, Mizrahi, Tsipoura, Jeitner, & Gochfeld, 2018;Vizuete et al, 2018); at the same time, As, Cd, Pb and Hg have no established biological functions and are considered as contaminants (Hejna et al, 2018). The presence of HMs has been registered in tissues of wild birds (Bond & Robertson, 2015; Burger Mandal, 2019;Raychaudhuri et al, 2007). These resistances include three known mechanisms against HM toxicity: complexation or sequestering of the HM; detoxification by sequestering of intracellular metal ions; and excretion of the HM by efflux systems (Nies, 1999;Seiler & Berendonk, 2012).…”

Biotransport of metallic trace elements from marine to terrestrial ecosystems by seabirds

“…All statistical analyses were performed in R 3.4.2 (R Development Core Team ). For comparison purposes in Discussion , we assumed a moisture of 65% in red blood cells (Tartu et al ; Bond and Robertson ) and 79% in whole blood (Eagles‐Smith et al ) and that red blood cells consist of 45% of the whole blood, and that most Hg is accumulated in red blood cells (Bond and Robertson ).…”

Variation in blood mercury concentrations in brown skuas (Stercorarius antarcticus) is related to trophic ecology but not breeding success or adult body condition

“…Previous studies demonstrated that Hg in blood is associated predominantly with the cellular fraction (i.e., RBCs) rather than plasma (Bond and Robertson 2015;). The vast majority (>90 %) of total Hg (THg) in seabird RBCs is MeHg Albert et al 2019), and the estimated half-life of Hg in the blood of great skuas (Stercorarius skua) is 30-60 days (Bearhop et al 2000c).…”