title: Time trends of mercury in feathers of West Greenland birds of prey during 1851-2003.
abstract: Temporal trends of mercury (Hg) in West Greenland gyrfalcons, peregrine falcons, and white-tailed eagles were determined over 150 years from 1851 to 2003. Hg was measured in the fifth primary feather. Results showed that Hg increased in the order gyrfalcon (lowest) < peregrine falcon (intermediate) < white-tailed eagle (highest). All species showed significant age accumulations, which were taken into account in the temporal trend analysis. Of eight time trend analyses (three species and three age groups of which one was missing), seven showed an increase in primary feather concentrations. Of these, four were significant at the 5% level, two were close to being significant, and one was not significant. The linear regressions of which three out of four showed significant increases were for juvenile and immature gyrfalcon and juvenile peregrine falcon, which covered only periods prior to 1960, owing to limited data from the last half-century. The two sample comparisons of Hg 10-year medians for adult peregrine falcons and juvenile and adult white-tailed eagles indicated a continued increase during recent decades. However, low levels of Hg in a few recent collections among gyrfalcons and peregrines could indicate a change in the increasing trend.
authors.affiliation: Department of Arctic Environment, National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark. rdi@dmu.dk
authors.forename: Rune
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dietz
authors.forename: Frank F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Riget
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boertmann
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sonne
authors.forename: Morten T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fjeldså
authors.forename: Knud
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Falk
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kirkegaard
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Egevang
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Asmund
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wille
authors.forename: Søren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Møller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history; D046093:Falconiformes; D005241:Feathers / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006116:Greenland; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D008297:Male; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis* / Q000266:history
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D008628:Mercury