Selenium status in sea ducks (Melanitta fusca,Melanitta nigraandClangula hyemalis) wintering on the southern Baltic coast, Poland

Factors affecting trace element accumulation in livers of avian species from East Poland

“…Common goldeneye Bucephala clangula, bufflehead Bucephala albeola, and long-tailed duck Clangula hyemalis wintering at Lake Ontario had the following Se hepatic concentrations: 12.0 mg/kg dw, 12.3 mg/kg dw, and 22.7 mg/kg dw, respectively (Schummer et al 2010). In a study of sea ducks wintering in the Baltics, Pilarczyk et al (2012) found 5.3 mg/kg dw, 7.2 mg/kg dw, and 6.6 mg/kg dw hepatic Se in the velvet scoter Melanitta fusca, the common scoter Melanitta nigra, and the long-tailed duck, respectively, values that are comparable with the data for mallards obtained in this study.…”

“…If found, existing studies generally relate to the concentration of elements and rarely consider interactions among toxic heavy metals and essential elements (Pilarczyk et al, 2012;Kalisińska et al, 2013). The objectives of this study were to use birds as a sentinel species to determine if birds in East Poland are potentially acquiring unhealthy burdens of elemental contaminants, to describe hepatic concentrations of elemental contaminants in birds collected in East Poland, and to determine and discuss interactions among toxic heavy metals and essential elements in the livers of one of the examined species.…”

Hepatic and nephric mercury and selenium concentrations in common mergansers, mergus merganser, from baltic region, Europe

“…In our study, nephric Se concentration was ≤2.2 µg g −1 dry weight in 42% of specimens. Mean concentrations of hepatic and nephric Se were 3.1 µg g −1 and 2.3 µg g −1 dry weight, respectively, and were 1.7 to 2.3 and 1.7 to 2.8 times lower than the corresponding values reported for sea ducks (Melanitta fusca, Melanitta nigra , and Clangula hyemalis) feeding on zoobenthos and wintering nearby in the Pomeranian Bay . These birds have their breeding grounds in northern Scandinavia, another part of Europe deemed to be low in Se, like Poland.…”

“…Correlations were found between %MeHg and THg in the liver of 2 seabird species (black-footed albatross, Diomedea nigripes, and lysan albatross, Diomedea immutabilis), with significant values of r ¼ À0. 43 and À0.83, respectively [40]. In the inland piscivorous double-crested cormorant, differences were found between r values of Thg -%MeHg established for females and males separately.…”