Abstract
Mercury (Hg) is a great concern for marine environments. Bird feathers have been widely used to assess Hg pollution. In this study, we determine mercury concentrations in body feathers of juvenile Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) from the southeastern sector of Buenos Aires province, Argentina, during a non-breeding season, considering both sexes. Hg levels, considering both females and males together, ranged between 265.5 and 1515.52 ng/g. These levels are well below the concentrations in feathers suggested for taking actions focused on the protection of seabirds. Non-significant differences between sexes regarding Hg levels were found, probably because juveniles were sexually immature and females did not excrete Hg by egg laying yet. Hg concentrations found in this study were an order of magnitude higher than those reported 10 years ago for the species in breeding areas on the Argentine coast. Thus, the present study provides relevant information indicating a possible increase of Hg pollution in the southwestern region of the Atlantic Ocean and thus trigger for the development of monitoring programs and regional strategies to improve the conservation status of this species.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Guardavidas de Mar del Plata (Lifeguards of Mar del Plata) for the reports on the presence of beached penguins along the study area. We thank Lic. Maximiliano Hernandez (Argentina) for facilitating the map on Figure 1. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers who helped to improve the first version of our manuscript. This study was conducted under approved animal use protocols and permits provided by the Argentinean Government.
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This study was supported by the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Argentina [grant number PICT 2015–0262 J.P. Seco-Pon] and the Fundación Séneca—Agencia de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Región de Murcia [MASCA′2018 project, 20945/PI/18].
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AQA: data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, software, visualization, and writing—original draft, reviewing and editing. MDPGR: data curation, methodology, resources, and writing—reviewing and editing. AJGF: data curation, methodology, resources, and writing—reviewing and editing. GOG: data curation, investigation, and writing—reviewing and editing. JPSP: conceptualization, formal analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, software, supervision, and writing—reviewing and editing. KSBM: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, supervision, and writing—reviewing and editing.
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Quadri-Adrogué, A., Gómez-Ramírez, P., García-Fernández, A. et al. Feather mercury levels in beached Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) in northern Argentina during the non-breeding season. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 24793–24801 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17539-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17539-7