Minimal ecosystem uptake of selenium from Westland petrels, a forest-breeding seabird
Autor: | Dana Leishman, David J. Hawke, Roseanna Gamlen-Greene, Jon S. Harding |
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Rok vydání: | 2016 |
Předmět: |
Environmental Engineering
Food Chain Procellaria 010501 environmental sciences Procellariidae Forests 01 natural sciences Birds Selenium biology.animal Environmental Chemistry Animals Ecosystem Waste Management and Disposal 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Riparian zone Invertebrate geography geography.geographical_feature_category biology Ecology 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences biology.organism_classification Pollution Benthic zone 040103 agronomy & agriculture Guano 0401 agriculture forestry and fisheries Seabird Environmental Monitoring New Zealand |
Zdroj: | The Science of the total environment. 574 |
ISSN: | 1879-1026 |
Popis: | Endemic Westland petrels (Procellaria westlandica) are a remnant of extensive seabird populations that occupied the forested hill country of prehuman New Zealand. Because seabird guano is rich in Se, an often-deficient essential element, we proposed that Westland petrels enhance Se concentrations in ecosystems associated with their breeding grounds. We sampled terrestrial (soil, plants, riparian spiders) and freshwater (benthic invertebrates, fish) components from Westland petrel-enriched and non-seabird forests on the western coast of New Zealand's South Island, an area characterised by highly leached, nutrient-poor soils. Median seabird soil Se was an order of magnitude higher than soil from non-seabird sites (2.2 mg kg− 1 compared to 0.2 mg kg− 1), but corresponding plant foliage concentrations (0.06 mg kg− 1; 0.05 mg kg− 1) showed no difference between seabird and non-seabird sites. In streams, Se ranged from 0.05 mg kg− 1 (riparian foliage) to 3.1 mg kg− 1 (riparian spiders and freshwater mussels). However, there was no difference between seabird and non-seabird streams. Stoichiometric ratios (N:Se, P:Se) showed Se loss across all ecosystem components relative to seabird guano, except in seabird colony soil where N was lost preferentially. Seabirds therefore did not enrich the terrestrial plants and associated stream ecosystems in Se. We conclude that incorporation of trace elements brought ashore by seabirds cannot be assumed, even though seabirds are a significant source of marine-derived nutrients and trace elements to coastal ecosystems world-wide. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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