Trace elements in Antarctic penguins and the potential role of guano as source of recycled metals in the Southern Ocean
| Autor: | Antonio Tovar-Sánchez, Laura Ramajo, Andrés Barbosa, Erica Sparaventi, Araceli Rodríguez-Romero |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Química Analítica |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Environmental Engineering
Oceans and Seas Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis Guano Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Antarctic Regions General Medicine General Chemistry Spheniscidae Pollution Trace Elements Trace (semiology) Southern ocean Oceanography Metal concentration Animals Environmental Chemistry Environmental science Antarctica Droppings Ecosystem Penguin |
| Zdroj: | Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC instname Chemosphere 285 (2021) 131423 RODIN. Repositorio de Objetos de Docencia e Investigación de la Universidad de Cádiz |
| Popis: | Penguins dominate the Antarctic avifauna. As key animals in the Antarctic ecosystem, they are monitored to evaluate the ecological status of this pristine and remote region and specifically, they have been used as effective bioindicators suitable for long-term monitoring of metals in the Antarctic environment. However, studies about the role of this emblematic organism could play in the recycling of trace metals (TMs) in the Antarctic ecosystem are very limited. In this study we evaluate, using the peer review research articles already published and our own findings, the distribution of metals (i.e., Ca, Fe, Al, Na, Zn, Mg, Cu, K, Cd, Mn, Sr, Cr, Ni, Pb, Hg, V, Ba, Co, La, Ag, Rb, Hf, Sc, Au and Cs) and metalloids (As and Sb), measured in different biotic matrices, with emphasis on guano, of the Chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarcticus), Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae) and Gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) penguins. Regarding bioactive metals, the high concentrations (μg g−1 dry weight) of Cu (2.0 ± 1.4) x 102, Fe (4.1 ± 2.9) x 102, Mn (30 ± 34) and Zn (210 ± 90) reported in the guano from all the penguin species studied including our data, are of the same order of magnitude as those reported for whale feces (μg g−1 dry weight): Cu (2.9 ± 2.4) x 102, Fe (1.5 ± 1.4) x 102, Mn (28 ± 17) and Zn (6.2 ± 4.3) x 102, and one order of magnitude higher than the metal contents in krill (μg g−1 dry weight) of Cu (10.2 ± 5.5), Fe (24 ± 29) and Zn (13.5 ± 1.7). This suggest that penguin's excretion products could be an important source of these essential elements in the surface water, with an estimated annual release on a breeding season for Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn respectively of 28, 56, 4 and 29 tons, for the Chinstrap, Adélie and Gentoo penguins. The results provide evidence on the potential influence of penguins recycling TMs in the surface layer of the water column. This research has been funded by the Spanish Government projects PIMETAN (ref. RTI2018-098048-B-I00) and PINGUFOR (ref. CTM2015-64720-R). E. Sparaventi is supported by the Spanish FPI grant (Ref: PRE2019-089679) and A. Rodríguez-Romero is supported by the Spanish grant, Juan de la Cierva Incorporación (Ref: IJC2018-037545-I). |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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