title: Pygoscelis antarcticus feathers as bioindicator of trace element risk in marine environments from Barton Peninsula, 25 de Mayo (King George) Island, Antarctica.
abstract: We report the contents of elements in feathers of Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus), which had not been informed up to now, such as silver and bromine and others listed as hazardous by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as arsenic, cobalt, chromium, and mercury. Analyses of the element concentrations in feathers, adult and chicken, from Barton Peninsulas at 25 de Mayo (King George) Island, South Shetlands, were made by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis. Samarium, lanthanum a, thorium, and uranium concentrations in Chinstrap penguin feathers were below 0.1 mg/kg. This suggests that the elements in feather do not come from atmospheric particles surface deposition. Arsenic (0.120 ± 0.050 mg/kg) and cobalt (0.030 ± 0.020 mg/kg) concentrations were lower than the reports for other colony of Chinstrap penguins, and essential elements as iron (26 ± 12 mg/kg), zinc (78.0 ± 5.3 mg/kg), and chromium (0.51 ± 0.27 mg/kg) were in the same range while Se (2.90 ± 0.65 mg/kg) content were the lowest reported. Mercury (0.43 ± 0.21 mg/kg), chromium (0.210 ± 0.060 mg/kg), and silver (0.083 ± 0.003 mg/kg) in chicks tended to be lower than in adults. Iron, cobalt, and arsenic concentrations in feathers found in this study were the lowest compared to measurements were in several penguin species in Antarctica. These results confirm to feathers like effective indicators for the trace elements incorporated in the penguins and it provide a data set which can adds to the baseline for bioindication studies using feathers.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Análisis por Activación Neutrónica, Centro Atómico Bariloche (CAB), Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA), Av. Bustillo km 9.5, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina. spcatan@cab.cnea.gov.ar.
authors.forename: Soledad Perez
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Catán
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Análisis por Activación Neutrónica, Centro Atómico Bariloche (CAB), Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA), Av. Bustillo km 9.5, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina.
authors.forename: Debora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bubach
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecofisiología y Ecotoxicología, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Avenida 25 de Mayo 1151, B1650HML, General San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Fonzo
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecofisiología y Ecotoxicología, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Avenida 25 de Mayo 1151, B1650HML, General San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina.|Laboratorio de Investigaciones, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Argentina JF Ken-nedy, Sarmiento 4562, C1197AAR, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dopchiz
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Análisis por Activación Neutrónica, Centro Atómico Bariloche (CAB), Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA), Av. Bustillo km 9.5, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arribére
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecofisiología y Ecotoxicología, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Avenida 25 de Mayo 1151, B1650HML, General San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina.|Laboratorio de Investigaciones, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Argentina JF Ken-nedy, Sarmiento 4562, C1197AAR, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ansaldo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D005241:Feathers / Q000737:chemistry*; D062312:Islands; D046429:Spheniscidae; D014131:Trace Elements
chemical_list: D014131:Trace Elements
keywords: Biomonitoring; Chinstrap penguin; Marine ecosystem; Non-invasive method