title: Contamination status and accumulation characteristics of heavy metals and arsenic in five seabird species from the central Bering Sea.
abstract: Seabirds are marine top predators and accumulate high levels of metals and metalloids in their tissues. Contamination by metals in the highly productive offshore region has become a matter of public concern. It is home to 80% of the seabird population in the U.S.A., 95% of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus), and major populations of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) and whales. Here, the concentrations of eight heavy metals (Hg, Cd, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb) and a metalloid (As) in the liver and kidneys of the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia), short-tailed shearwater (Puffinus tenuirostris), tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) and horned puffin (Fratercula corniculata) collected in the Bering Sea were measured. As proxies of trophic level and habitat, nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) stable isotope ratios of breast muscles were also measured. Hepatic Hg concentration was high in northern fulmar, whereas Cd level was high in tufted puffin and northern fulmar. The Hg concentration and δ15N value were positively correlated across individual birds, suggesting that Hg uptake was linked to the trophic status of consumed prey. Furthermore, Hg concentration in our study was higher than those of the same species of seabirds collected in 1990.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan.
authors.forename: Chihiro
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan.|Water Research Group, Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ikenaka
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan.
authors.forename: Shouta M M
authors.initials: SMM
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan.
authors.forename: Hazuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mizukawa
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan.|Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Science, University of Gondar, P.O. Box 196, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Yared Beyene
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Yohannes
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, 3-1-1 Minato-cho, Hakodate 041-8611, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Watanuki
authors.affiliation: Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, 2-2-4-1 Nakanoshima, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo 062-0922, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukuwaka
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan.
authors.forename: Mayumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishizuka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D046091:Charadriiformes; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005260:Female; D007668:Kidney / Q000737:chemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D001151:Arsenic
keywords: Bering Sea; cadmium; mercury; seabird