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Investigation of mercury concentrations in fur of phocid seals using stable isotopes as tracers of trophic levels and geographical regions

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Abstract

Recent studies have shown that the complementary analysis of mercury (Hg) concentrations and stable isotopic ratios of nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) can be useful for investigating the trophic influence on the Hg exposure and accumulation in marine top predators. In this study, we propose to evaluate the interspecies variability of Hg concentrations in phocids from polar areas and to compare Hg bioaccumulation between both hemispheres. Mercury concentrations, δ15N and δ13C were measured in fur from 85 individuals representing 7 phocidae species, a Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii), Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii), crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophagus), harbour seals (Phoca vitulina), grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), ringed seals (Pusa hispida) and a bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus), from Greenland, Denmark and Antarctica. Our results showed a positive correlation between Hg concentrations and δ15N values among all individuals. Seals from the Northern ecosystems displayed greater Hg concentrations, δ15N and δ13C values than those from the Southern waters. Those geographical differences in Hg and stable isotopes values were likely due to higher environmental Hg concentrations and somewhat greater number of steps in Arctic food webs. Moreover, dissimilarities in feeding habits among species were shown through δ15N and δ13C analysis, resulting in an important interspecific variation in fur Hg concentrations. A trophic segregation was observed between crabeater seals and the other species, resulting from the very specific diet of krill of this species and leading to the lowest observed Hg concentrations.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the people who helped collecting the samples in the field, especially the crew of the Swedish icebreaker ‘Oden’ who skilfully managed to find the seals and manoeuvre through the dense pack ice around Antarctica. Special acknowledgement to Carine Churlaud from the Centre Commun d’Analyses (La Rochelle, France) for her valuable input on the Hg analysis and to Pierre Richard and Gaël Guillou from LIENSs (UMR 6250 CNRS-La Rochelle University, France) for their contribution and advice on the stable isotope analysis. This study was financed by The Dancea Programme, KVUG (Kommissionen for Videnskabelige Undersøgelser i Grønland), the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Polar Institute, the Poitou–Charentes region and the M.L. Furnestin-Faure foundation. Finally, we also thank Travis Horton, Liying Zhao and a third anonymous reviewer for their contribution to this manuscript through their relevant comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, P.O. Box 358, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark

    Aurore Aubail, Jonas Teilmann, Rune Dietz & Frank Rigét

  2. Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 6250, CNRS-Université de La Rochelle, 2 rue Olympe de Gouges, 17042, La Rochelle cedex, France

    Aurore Aubail & Florence Caurant

  3. Department of Contaminant Research, Swedish Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 50007, 10405, Stockholm, Sweden

    Tero Harkonen & Olle Karlsson

  4. Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 570, 3900, Nuuk, Greenland

    Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid

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  1. Aurore Aubail
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  2. Jonas Teilmann
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Correspondence to Aurore Aubail or Rune Dietz.

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Aubail, A., Teilmann, J., Dietz, R. et al. Investigation of mercury concentrations in fur of phocid seals using stable isotopes as tracers of trophic levels and geographical regions. Polar Biol 34, 1411–1420 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-0996-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-011-0996-z

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