Transport of Nutrients and Contaminants from Ocean to Island by Emperor Penguins from Amanda Bay, East Antarctic
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Science of the Total Environment 468–469 (2014) 578–583 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv Transport of nutrients and contaminants from ocean to island by emperor penguins from Amanda Bay, East Antarctic Tao Huang, Liguang Sun ⁎, Yuhong Wang, Zhuding Chu, Xianyan Qin, Lianjiao Yang Institute of Polar Environment, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China HIGHLIGHTS • Emperor penguins transfer nutrients and contaminants from ocean to island and lake or pond system. • Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in determining sources of organic matters in lake sediments • Differences in biotransfer efficiency between emperor and Pygoscelis penguins article info abstract Article history: Penguins play important roles in the biogeochemical cycle between Antarctic Ocean and land ecosystems. The Received 13 June 2013 roles of emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri, however, are usually ignored because emperor penguin breeds Received in revised form 26 August 2013 in fast sea ice. In this study, we collected two sediment profiles (EPI and PI) from the N island near a large emper- Accepted 26 August 2013 or penguin colony at Amanda Bay, East Antarctic and performed stable isotope and element analyses. The organic Available online xxxx C/N ratios and carbon and nitrogen isotopes suggested an autochthonous source of organic materials for the sed- δ13 − ‰ δ15 ‰ Editor: Frank Riget iments of EPI (C/N = 10.21 ± 0.28, n =17; C= 13.48 ± 0.50 , N = 8.35 ± 0.55 , n =4)andan allochthonous source of marine-derived organic materials for the sediments of PI (C/N = 6.15 ± 0.08, 13 15 Keywords: δ C=−26.85 ± 0.11‰, δ N = 21.21 ± 2.02‰, n = 20). The concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), sele- Emperor penguin nium (Se), mercury (Hg) and zinc (Zn) in PI sediments were much higher than those in EPI, the concentration of Ornithogenic sediments copper (Cu) in PI was a little lower, and the concentration of element lead (Pb) showed no difference. As mea- Bio-transfer sured by the geoaccumulation indexes, Zn, TP, Hg and Se were from moderately to very strongly enriched in Stable isotope analysis PI, relative to local mother rock, due to the guano input from juvenile emperor penguins. Because of its high tro- Nutrients and contaminants phic level and transfer efficiency, emperor penguin can transport a large amount of nutrients and contaminants from ocean to land even with a relatively small population, and its roles in the biogeochemical cycle between ocean and terrestrial environment should not be ignored. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction penguin population (Sun et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2007). Radiocarbon dates of the ornithogenic soils/sediments and tissue remains unveiled As a typical seabird in the Southern Ocean ecosystem, penguins penguin occupation history and their relationship with regional marine are good indicator of Antarctic climate change and marine environ- environmental changes and land ice advance and retreat (e.g. Baroni ment status (Ainley, 2002; Boersma, 2008). Plentiful ecological infor- and Orombelli, 1994; Emslie et al., 2003; Huang et al., 2009b). mation could be extracted from penguin guanos and ornithogenic Seabirds transport materials from ocean to lake or pond systems in sediments to study those polar vertebrates' population records and island and coastal land by guanos, and impact the lake productivities, their responses to past climate changes and human activities (Sun the chemical compositions of lake water and sediments, and the struc- et al., 2013). For example, elemental analyses on lake sediments from ture and diversity of lake biota (e.g. Sánchez-Piñero and Polis, 2000; Ardley Island, Vestfold Hills and Ross Island identified elements such Blais et al., 2005, 2007; Ellis et al., 2006; Michelutti et al., 2009, 2011). as Sr, F, S, Se, P, Cu and Zn as geochemical markers of penguin guano in- Chemical compositions of penguin's guano reflect the status of regional puts (Sun et al., 2000; Huang et al., 2009a; Liu et al., 2013). 87Sr/86Sr ra- marine food web chemistry (Roosens et al., 2007). Antarctic land-based tios of marine-derived materials and levels of biomarker fecal sterols in penguins (Adélie, Chinstrap and Gentoo) play important roles in those lake sediments were determined and identified as good proxy for connecting ocean and land ecosystems, and they transport marine- derived nutrients and contaminants to ice free land areas in the form ⁎ Corresponding author. of guanos or dead bodies (Tatur and Mayrcha, 1984; Sun and Xie, E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Sun). 2001; Huang et al., 2011a). At Ross Island, Ardley Island and Vestfold 0048-9697/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.08.082 T. Huang et al. / Science of the Total Environment 468–469 (2014) 578–583 579 Hills in Antarctica, Pygoscelis penguins could transfer about 4.0 × 105 kg sea ice unstable for most of the year and provides the emperor penguin of phosphorus per year from ocean to islands and coastal lands (Qin colony in Amanda Bay with good access to the sea for feeding. Colonies et al., 2013). Pygoscelis penguins transported large amounts of marine of several thousand pairs of emperor penguins occupy variable positions heavy metals and organic pollutants from both natural and anthropo- in the southwest corner of Amanda Bay (Wienecke and Pedersen, genic sources to lands, lakes or ponds in the form of guanos, feathers 2009). and eggshells (Roosens et al., 2007; Xie and Sun, 2008; Brasso et al., During the field investigation, two sediment cores (EPI and PI) were 2012). These transported nutrients and contaminants were deposited collected at the N island, on the southwest side of the Amanda Bay in land and lakes and then formed penguin ornithogenic soils and sedi- (Fig. 1). EPI core was extracted from a pond with a 19 m height above ments. Unlike Pygoscelis penguins, emperor penguins have been less sea level while PI core was collected from a pond with a 1.5 m height studied for their roles in the biogeochemical cycle between ocean and above sea level. The PI core pond was near the emperor penguin colony land, likely due to the fact that adult emperor penguins breed in sea and many penguin feathers and even a little mummified penguin were ice and rarely visit land (Le Maho, 1977). found near the pond. In the laboratory, the cores were opened. EPI was During several field investigations, we observed many juvenile sectioned at 1 cm intervals to obtain 17 subsamples; PI was sectioned at emperor penguins in the N island near their colony, even though 0.5 cm interval on the top 4.5 cm and at 1.0 cm interval on the layer their population is smaller than that of the land-based Pygoscelis below 4.5 cm, to obtain a total of 20 subsamples. Penguin remains penguins. To study possible impacts by juvenile emperor penguins such as bones and feathers were found in PI sediment core and were on land environment, in this study, we collected two sediment handpicked. All the subsamples as well as local bedrock samples were cores (named as EPI and PI) from the N island near a large emperor stored frozen prior to analysis. penguin colony at Amanda Bay, East Antarctic and performed stable C and N isotope and elemental analyses. By comparing stable isotope 2.2. Stable isotope and elemental analysis values, elemental concentrations and sedimentary characteristic, we fi identi ed the sources of organic matters in EPI and PI, calculated the All the samples from EPI and PI were analyzed for the organic C/N geoaccumulation index of elements in PI, and discussed emperor ratio; 4 samples in EPI and 20 samples in PI were analyzed for the stable penguins' roles in transfer of nutrients and contaminants from C and N isotope ratios. Samples were air-dried, powdered, acidified with ocean to island and freshwater systems. 4 mol/l HCl of 20 ml to remove inorganic carbon, washed repeatedly with Millipore water to neutral pH, dried at 40 °C again. Samples and 2. Materials and methods standards were weighed accurately into tin capsules and loaded into el- ement analyzer–isotope ratio mass spectrometer (Flash EA 1112 HT- 2.1. Study area and sample collection Delta V Advantages, Thermo). The instrument precision is ±0.25‰ for δ15N, ±0.20‰ for δ13C and ±0.25% for C and N content. Standard devi- Amanda Bay is located at the Ingrid Christensen Coast of Princess ation of the insert standard samples (n =5)isb0.20‰ for δ13C, b0.30‰ Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica, about 20 km northeast of Chinese for δ15N, and b0.8% and b0.7% for C and N content, respectively. Stable Zhongshan Station (Larsemann Hills) and nearly 80 km to the west of isotope results are presented in δ (‰) and expressed relative to air for Australian Davis Station (Vestfold Hills). It is approximately 3 km δ15N and Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite (VPDB) for δ13C according to the 3 wide and 6 km long, and opens northwest into the much larger Prydz equation: δ (‰) = [(Rsample − Rstandard)/Rstandard]*10 ,whereδ (‰) 15 13 Bay. The southwest side of the bay is flanked by the Flatnes Ice Tongue. represents the δ Norδ C value, Rsample is the isotopic ratio of the sam- The eastern and southern sides are bounded by the ice cliffs of the ple, and Rstandard the isotopic ratio of the air and VPDB. Hovde Glacier, with Hovde Island in the northeast. There are some For elemental analyses, about 0.25 g of sediment and bedrock pow- small islands within the bay.