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Marine Foraging Birds As Bioindicators of Mercury in the Gulf of Maine

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Abstract

From existing databases, we compiled and evaluated 604 total mercury (Hg) levels in the eggs and blood of 17 species of marine foraging birds from 35 Gulf of Maine islands to provide baseline data and to determine the best tissue, age class, and species for future biomonitoring. While mean Hg levels in most species did not exceed adverse effects thresholds, levels in some individual eggs did; for all species arithmetic mean egg Hg levels ranged from 0.04 to 0.62 (μg/g, wet weight). Piscivorous birds had higher Hg levels than invertivores. Leach’s storm-petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa), razorbill (Alca torda), and black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) adult blood and egg Hg levels were higher than other species. Our results indicate that adult blood is preferable to chick blood for detecting long-term temporal trends because adult levels are higher and not confounded by metabolic effects. However, since we found that eggs and adult blood are comparable indicators of methylmercury bioavailability, we determined that eggs are the preferred tissue for long-term Hg monitoring because the relative ease in collecting eggs ensures consistent and robust datasets. We suggest specific sampling methods, and based on our results demonstrate that common eider (Somateria mollissima), Leach’s storm-petrel, double-crested cormorant, and black guillemot are the most effective bioindicators of Hg of the Gulf of Maine.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the field staff of BioDiversity Research Institute, Canadian Wildlife Service, Kent Island Bowdoin Scientific Station, Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, National Audubon’s Seabird Restoration Program, New Brunswick Museum, Shoals Marine Laboratory, University of New Brunswick, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their aid in collecting and processing the samples. We also thank the Atlantic Cooperative Wildlife Ecology Research Network (ACWERN), Canadian Wildlife Service, Collaborative Mercury Research Network (COMERN), the Davis Conservation Foundation, Gulf of Maine Council, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their financial support of this project. This is ACWERN publication no. UNB-74.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BioDiversity Research Institute, 19 Flaggy Meadow Road, Gorham, ME, 04038, USA

    M. Wing Goodale & David C. Evers

  2. Maine Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1168 Main Street, Old Town, ME, 04468, USA

    Steven E. Mierzykowski

  3. Atlantic Cooperative Wildlife Ecology Research Network, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 5A3, Canada

    Alexander L. Bond, Catherine I. Otorowski & Anthony W. Diamond

  4. Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, A1B 3X9, Canada

    Alexander L. Bond

  5. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador, A1N 4T3, Canada

    Neil M. Burgess

  6. Maine Coastal Islands NWR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 279, Milbridge, ME, 04658, USA

    Linda J. Welch

  7. National Audubon Society, 159 Sapsucker Woods, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA

    C. Scott Hall & Stephen W. Kress

  8. Department of Environmental and Population Health, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, MA, 01536, USA

    Julie C. Ellis

  9. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 650 State Street, Bangor, ME, 04401, USA

    R. Bradford Allen

  10. Trace Element Research Lab, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Robert J. Taylor

Authors
  1. M. Wing Goodale
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  2. David C. Evers
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  3. Steven E. Mierzykowski
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  4. Alexander L. Bond
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  5. Neil M. Burgess
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  6. Catherine I. Otorowski
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  7. Linda J. Welch
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  8. C. Scott Hall
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  9. Julie C. Ellis
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  10. R. Bradford Allen
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  11. Anthony W. Diamond
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  12. Stephen W. Kress
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  13. Robert J. Taylor
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Wing Goodale.

Appendix

Appendix

(See Appendix Tables)

Appendix A Species, Sites, and Sample Sizes for Hg Samples from the Gulf of Maine, 1998–2006
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Appendix B Tissue Hg Levels (Arithmetic Mean ± SD, Range, and Sample Size) from Sampling of Seabird Tissues in Gulf of Maine 1998–2006a
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Goodale, M.W., Evers, D.C., Mierzykowski, S.E. et al. Marine Foraging Birds As Bioindicators of Mercury in the Gulf of Maine. EcoHealth 5, 409–425 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-009-0211-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-009-0211-7

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