1. Temporal and interspecific variation in feather mercury in four penguin species from Macquarie Island, Australia.
- Author
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Gilmour ME, Holmes ND, Fleishman AB, and Kriwoken LK
- Subjects
- Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Animals, Antarctic Regions, Australia, Ecosystem, Environmental Monitoring methods, Islands, Species Specificity, Feathers chemistry, Mercury analysis, Spheniscidae, Water Pollutants, Chemical analysis
- Abstract
We measured mercury (Hg) concentrations in feathers from four penguin species collected on Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, to 1) establish baseline Hg concentrations; and 2) compare Hg from samples collected in 2002 ("modern") and from museum specimens collected between 1937 and 1976 ("historic"). Inter-specific differences in feather Hg reflected known differences in habitats and diversity of diets: benthic-foraging Gentoo penguins and Rockhopper penguins that foraged both inshore and offshore had significantly higher feather mercury than the more pelagic, specialist foraging King and Royal penguins. Hg significantly decreased between historic and modern samples in King and Royal penguins. This decrease could be due to changes in either diet, foodwebs, or atmospheric Hg input and sources in the Southern Hemisphere. Because Macquarie Island is home to 2.8 million marine animals, these data may indicate that other species that forage and breed in this region are also exposed to low Hg concentrations in this environment., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2019
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