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Mercury concentrations in Double—crested Cormorant chicks across Canada

Raphael A. Lavoie, Linda M. Campbell
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/185280
Raphael A. Lavoie
aBiology Department, Queen’s University, 116 Barrie St., Kingston, ON, Canada, K7L 3N6
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  • For correspondence: lavoie.raphael@gmail.com
Linda M. Campbell
bSaint Mary’s University, 923 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3 Canada
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Abstract

Mercury (Hg) biomagnifies in aquatic food chains and can reach high concentrations in fish-eating birds. Spatial patterns of Hg have been found in freshwater ecosystems across Canada for many taxa including fish and birds. However, it is often challenging to sample a representative population size of adult birds to monitor concentrations of contaminants over a large spatial scale. Moreover, adult birds can migrate and can show a contaminant profile that may not be representative of local resources. The aims of this study were (1) to determine if there was a spatial pattern of Hg in piscivorous birds, (2) to develop a model to estimate Hg concentrations in breeding adults using chicks as proxy, and (3) to develop predictive equations among non-lethal samples that representative of local resources in adults (blood and growing feathers). Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) chick growing feathers were sampled at 19 sites across Canada (n = 106). Adult tissues (freshly grown feathers; n = 8-16 per feather type and blood; n = 160) were sampled at five of those locations to establish correlations between age classes and between adult tissues. We found an increase in Hg concentrations with latitude up to 50°N followed by a decrease. There was a decrease in Hg concentrations from west to east, which contradicts previous studies. We found a good correlation of Hg concentrations between adults and chicks and among adult tissues. Our model showed that it is possible to estimate Hg concentrations in adults across Canada using chicks as proxy. Our study shows that chicks can be a suitable proxy for monitoring local mercury concentrations and that they are representative of adults.

Capsule: Concentrations of mercury in cormorant chicks are influenced by latitude

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted September 07, 2017.
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Mercury concentrations in Double—crested Cormorant chicks across Canada
Raphael A. Lavoie, Linda M. Campbell
bioRxiv 185280; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/185280
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Mercury concentrations in Double—crested Cormorant chicks across Canada
Raphael A. Lavoie, Linda M. Campbell
bioRxiv 185280; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/185280

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