Trace element concentrations in feathers from three seabird species breeding in the Timor Sea

Abstract

Mobile marine predators, such as seabirds, are frequently used as broad samplers of contaminants that are widespread in the marine environment. The Timor Sea off remote Western Australia is a poorly studied, yet rapidly expanding area of offshore development. To provide much needed data on contamination in this region, we quantified trace element concentrations in breast feathers of three seabird species breeding on Bedout Island. While adult Masked Boobies Sula dactylatra exhibited some of the highest concentrations, values for all species were below toxicology thresholds for seabirds and were comparable to those reported in other closely related species. The low concentrations detected in the birds provides a valuable baseline and suggests the local marine environment around Bedout is in relatively good condition. However, careful monitoring is warranted in light increasing anthropogenic activity in this region.

Ecological trap for seabirds due to the contamination caused by the Fundão dam collapse, Brazil

“…Using seabirds for biomonitoring the marine environment is facilitated by their high philopatry (allows inter-annual resampling), colonial reproduction (sampling facilitation), high mobility, and fidelity to foraging areas (monitoring of remote areas) (Burger and Gochfeld, 2004). This has been used to understand environmental contamination by plastics (Avery-Gomm et al, 2012;Phillips and Waluda, 2020), heavy metals (Gatt et al, 2020;Lavers et al, 2020), and persistent organic pollutants (Adrogué et al, 2019;Clatterbuck et al, 2018). However, the usefulness of seabirds as biomonitors also shows the level of impacts on the group, which is considered the most threatened among the entire Class Aves (Croxall et al, 2012), and their K-strategy (i.e.…”