Effects of seabird vectors on the fate, partitioning, and signatures of contaminants in a High Arctic ecosystem.
Seabirds bioaccumulate contaminants from prey, transport them to their nesting sites, and deposit them in their excreta and carcasses, thereby focusing marine-derived contaminants into remote, terrestrial receptor sites. In the case of organochlorine chemicals transported by northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) to a High Arctic seabird colony on Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada (76°13'N, 89°14'W), this contaminant pathway dominates all others. In freshwater ponds below the nesting cliffs, concentrations of organochlorine contaminants characteristic of fulmar input were 2- to 45-fold higher in sediments and water (depending on seabird input to the particular pond) than in ponds remote from the colony. Air-water fugacity quotients for the ponds decreased with seabird input, indicating that fulmar contaminant input shifts air-water partitioning to increasingly favor volatilization to air. Although contaminant evasion from water was favored, direct evidence of it was not detected in air samples. For PCBs, congener profiles of pond sediments or water became more similar to seabird sources as seabird input increased, and less similar to air profiles. Based on measurements of contaminants in fulmars and other local environmental media, this study presents the first application of fugacities and multivariate source apportionment statistics to resolve seabird biological vectors.
Trent University, Environmental & Resource Sciences Department, 1600 West Bank Dr., Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada. kfoster411@gmail.com
Karen L
KL
Foster
Lynda E
LE
Kimpe
Samantha K
SK
Brimble
Huijun
H
Liu
Mark L
ML
Mallory
John P
JP
Smol
Robie W
RW
Macdonald
Jules M
JM
Blais
D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D001717:Birds; D002170:Canada; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D005618:Fresh Water
D004785:Environmental Pollutants