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Mercury in Feathers and Blood of Gulls from the Southern Baltic Coast, Poland

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Mercury in Feathers and Blood of Gulls from the Southern Baltic Coast, Poland Water Air Soil Pollut (2017) 228:138 DOI 10.1007/s11270-017-3308-6 Mercury in Feathers and Blood of Gulls from the Southern Baltic Coast, Poland Emilia Szumiło-Pilarska & Lucyna Falkowska & Agnieszka Grajewska & Włodzimierz Meissner Received: 19 September 2016 /Accepted: 24 February 2017 # The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Gulls were assessed as sentinels of While no correlation was found with feathers, only contamination in the coastal zone of the Southern Baltic, developing feathers of juvenile herring gulls were found research material being obtained from dead birds collect- to be a good indicator immediate of exposure through 2 2 ed on Polish beaches and near fishing ports in 2009– food (R muscle = 0.71, p =0.001; R kidneys =0.73, 2 2 2012. In feathers and blood of four gull species: herring p = 0.001; R heart =0.89, p =0.001; R lungs =0.86, 2 gull (Larus argentatus), common gull (Larus canus), p =0.001; R brain =0.83,p = 0.001). Additionally, based black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), and on studies of herring gull primary feathers, decrease of great black-backed gull (Larus marinus), concentration mercury concentration in the diet of birds over the last of total mercury (HgT) was assayed, taking into account two decades is also discussed. the type of feathers, sex, and age. Stable isotopes (δ15N, δ13 C) were used as tracers of trophic position in the food Keywords Mercury. Feathers . Blood . Gulls . Baltic web. In the study, feathers and blood were compared as Sea . Sentinels non-invasive indicators of alimentary exposure introducing mercury into the system. In order to do that, the correlations between mercury concentrations in the 1 Introduction blood, feathers, and the birds’ internal tissues were examined. The strongest relations were observed in the Mercury is a toxic metal which accumulates in living liver for each species R2 =0.94, p =0.001; Common Gull organisms in the marine environment. Concentration of R2 = 0.89, p = 0.001; R2 Black-headed Gull Great Black-backed this element increases with trophic level. In result, = 0.53, p = 0.001; R2 = 0.78, p = 0.001. Gull Herring Gull organisms situated at the top of the trophic pyramid including birds, mammals, and humans are most exposed E. Szumiło-Pilarska : L. Falkowska (*) : A. Grajewska to toxic effects of mercury (Burger and Gochfeld 2004; Department of Marine Chemistry and Environmental Protection, Scheuhammer et al. 2007; Grandjean et al. 2010). Gulls Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk, feed in both land and marine ecosystems and therefore Al. Piłsudskiego 46, 81-387 Gdynia, Poland combine contamination from both. Many seabirds search e-mail: [email protected] for food in different areas, covering long distances, and L. Falkowska hence, contamination of their tissues indicates pollution e-mail: [email protected] levels over a large area. Feathers, easy to collect in a non- invasive manner, are considered by many researchers to W. Meissner Avian Ecophysiology Unit, Department of Vertebrate Ecology and be good indicators of alimentary exposure and thus of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, ul. Wita environmental pollution with mercury (Burger 1993; Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland Furness 1993; Ratcliffe et al. 1996; Furness and 138 Page 2 of 13 Water Air Soil Pollut (2017) 228:138 Camphuysen 1997;Thompsonetal.1998; Burger and habitat of these birds by sampling tissues of dead spec- Gochfeld 2004;Eversetal.2008). Studies on mercury imens and collecting feathers and blood from live ones. concentrations in feathers are widespread (Cairns 1997; Furthermore, only a few publications concerned with Monteiro et al. 1999;Warneretal.2010) and enable the Polish coast have focused on hazardous substances evaluation and comparison of mercury pollution in in the tissues of birds, namely the great cormorant different areas of the world. Feathers are also useful in (Phalacrocorax carbo), herring gull (Larus argentatus), terms of monitoring environments in which birds and mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), common merganser other organisms (including humans) live, as mercury (Mergus merganser), and white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus present therein is both physically and chemically stable. albicilla)(Falandyszetal.1988; Misztal-Szkudlińska Mercury concentrations in feathers of birds from museum et al. 2011;Szumiłoetal.2013; Szumiło-Pilarska et al. exhibitions (Westermark et al. 1975; Thompson et al. 2015; Kalisińska et al. 2013; 2014a, b). Results for 1993; Zolfaghari et al. 2007) allow us to determine mercury concentrations in gull feathers are unavailable, concentrations of this metal in the previous century and except from Szumiłoetal.(2013) and Szumiło-Pilarska identify long-term trend changes in environmental con- et al. 2015. tamination. The second most popular form of non- The results presented in 2013 were based on 14 invasive tissue research in birds uses their blood herring gull specimens and indicated a lack of significant (Raygoza-Viera et al. 2013), which can reflect recent differences between mercury concentrations assayed in exposure to many substances (Barrett et al. 1996;Kahle soft tissues and feathers of specimens of various ages. and Becker 1999). The main entry routes of mercury into That contradicted the data found in literature, a fact which abird’s body are ingestion of food and water, so quantity encouraged the authors to extend the studies onto new and quality of diet determine Hg body burden (Thomson material. In the paper by Szumiło-Pilarska et al. (2015), et al. 1998; Cristol et al. 2008; Burger and Gochfeld the earlier conclusions were confirmed. While showing 2004; Burger et al. 2009). Blight et al. (2015) found that no clear-cut differences between mercury concentrations seabirds from highly urbanized areas (Salish Sea, in the soft tissues of 61 herring gull specimens of different Canada) change the trophic level, moving increasingly ages, the study was extended to cover sex differences as towards food of anthropogenic origin. Therefore, in order well. The relationship between mercury concentrations in to determine the trophic level and feeding area of wild the soft tissues of four gull species: herring gull, common birds, the studies were supplemented by an analysis of gull (Larus canus), black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus stable isotopes δ15Nandδ13C (Hobson et al. 1994). In ridibundus), and great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) highly urbanized areas, absorption of the mercury by the was also analyzed. The lack of chemical monitoring of birds’ respiratory system may be also important, but the birds on the Polish coast, together with the restrictive law problem is poorly described in the literature. in Poland, caused the authors to lean towards non- Research into the occurrence and accumulation of invasive sampling based on feathers and blood. mercury in aquatic birds has been conducted for decades The study aims were to compare the Hg concentrations (Voitkevich 1966), particularly in North America and in feathers of gull wintering in Poland and evaluate the the Arctic (Stewart et al. 1997; Burger and Gochfeld relationship between Hg concentrations in feathers and soft 2004;Burgeretal.2009; Bond and Diamond 2009a, b), tissues. and demonstrated that, in addition to the ecological The authors wanted to know whether and under what factor—diet, several biological factors including age, conditions gulls could be considered good early warning sex, molt pattern, and condition also helped to determine sentinels of exposure threats to coastal communities, the concentration of mercury in birds. ecosystems, and humans. The studies looked at trophic In the Baltic, research into seabirds has tended to level and type of feathers in four species of gulls: focus on Germany and Sweden (Westermark et al. common gull, black-headed gull, and great black- 1975;Thompsonetal.1993; Thyen et al. 2000). Along backed gull. Sex and age differences were taken into the Polish coast of the Southern Baltic, no chemical account for herring gull. monitoring of birds exists. Polish law prohibits the Based on analyses of newly emerging covert feathers in shooting of birds of the Laridae family but, with the herring gulls, an assessment of short-term contamination in permission of the Committee of Ethics, it is possible to the coastal foraging area is discussed. Herring gull gather information on the level of contamination in the primaries were used to determine the direction of changes Water Air Soil Pollut (2017) 228:138 Page 3 of 13 138 in regional mercury contamination over the past two Whole feathers were used for analysis. Blood samples decades (1992–2012). were taken, as a blood clot, from the bird’s heart, frozen (−20 °C), and lyophilized. Owing to the fact that that blood was collected from dead specimens, the wetness 2MaterialsandMethods was not calculated and the results were given as dry mass. The study used dead specimens of herring gull, common During dissection, the cause of the birds’ death was gull, black-headed gull, and great black-backed gull found not investigated, but in 9% of the cases, it was known between December 2009 and August 2012. Most birds (being run over by a car, freezing onto the ice layer, were collected in an area of congregation near the fishing broken wing). The results assayed in the feathers of those port in Wladyslawowo (N54° 47′, E18° 25′) and at specimens did not constitute a separate, distinguished set BMewia Lacha^ bird sanctuary at the mouth of the River of data. Having compared them to information in Vistula (N54° 21′,E18°57′). A few specimens came from literature on the subject of adverse effects, the authors the beaches of the Gulf of Gdansk. In total, 104 birds were believe that the level of mercury in the tissues of those collected and this material was supplemented with 53 birds could not have been the direct cause of their death.
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