Mercury Exposure in Birds Linked to Marine Ecosystems in the Western Mediterranean
| Autor: | Antonio J. García-Fernández, Pilar Gómez-Ramírez, Neus I. Berenguer, Pablo Sánchez-Virosta, Irene Valverde, Pedro María-Mojica, María Y. Torres-Chaparro, Isabel Navas, Silvia Espín, Silvia Albertos, Pedro Jiménez |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
European shag
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis Puffinus Endangered species Zoology Environmental pollution Animals Wild 010501 environmental sciences Toxicology 01 natural sciences Birds Charadriiformes food biology.animal Animals Ecosystem 0105 earth and related environmental sciences biology food.dish Cormorant General Medicine Mercury Feathers Methylmercury Compounds Larus michahellis biology.organism_classification Pollution Spain Tern Environmental Pollution Northern gannet Environmental Monitoring |
| Zdroj: | Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology. 79(4) |
| ISSN: | 1432-0703 |
| Popis: | Mercury (Hg), particularly as methylmercury (MeHg), is a nonessential, persistent, and bioaccumulative toxic element with high biomagnification capacity and is considered a threat to marine environments. We evaluated total Hg concentrations in liver, kidney, and brain in 62 individuals of 9 bird species linked to marine ecosystems from western Mediterranean admitted in a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (WRC) (Alicante, Spain, 2005–2020). Age- and sex-related differences in Hg levels, as well as the cause of admission to the WRC, were also evaluated in certain species. The species studied were: northern gannet (Morus bassanus), European shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis), great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), Balearic shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus), yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis), razorbill (Alca torda), common tern (Sterna hirundo), and black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus). Concentrations in feathers of 27 individuals, and concentrations in internal tissues in 7 other individuals of 7 different species were also reported but not statistically evaluated due to the limited number of samples. Results suggest that individuals were chronically exposed to Hg through diet. The differences in Hg concentrations among species may be explained by their diet habits. Mercury concentrations strongly correlated between tissues (r = 0.78–0.94, p |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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