Tracking contaminants in seabirds of Arctic Canada: temporal and spatial insights.
Levels and trends of persistent organic pollutants and trace elements in seabirds breeding in the vast Canadian Arctic have been monitored since 1975. Data from this monitoring have indicated both spatial and temporal variation across the region, attributable in part to differences in species' diets, differences in regional deposition patterns, and unidirectional trends in contaminants reaching this area from emissions in temperate and tropical areas to the south. Seabird tissues have served as effective biomonitors to examine this variation, and national and international collaboration in this monitoring effort has promoted valuable synthetic assessments of spatial and temporal patterns in Arctic contaminants. Here we review the history of the monitoring program, the critical role played by Environment Canada's National Wildlife Specimen Bank, and we summarize important spatial and temporal trends in various contaminants in Canadian Arctic seabirds.
Biology Department, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, Canada. mark.mallory@acadiau.ca
Mark L
ML
Mallory
Birgit M
BM
Braune
D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D018070:Biological Specimen Banks; D001717:Birds / Q000378:metabolism*; D002170:Canada; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D020387:Food Chain; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical