PEARL  Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory

Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston ON, Canada, K7L 3N6

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Trophic position influences the efficacy of seabirds as
metal biovectors

May 19, 2010

Coastal birds carry toxic ocean metals inland

Queen’s-led study links metal contamination of Arctic ponds to seabirds’ diets 

Kingston, ON – A collaborative research team led by Queen’s University biologists has found that potent metals like mercury and lead, ingested by Arctic seabirds feeding in the ocean, end up in the sediment of polar ponds.

“Birds feeding on different diets will funnel different ‘cocktails’ of metal contaminants from the ocean back to terrestrial ecosystems, which can then affect other living organisms,” says lead author Neal Michelutti, a research scientist at Queen’s Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL). 

The study will be published on-line the week of May 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 

The team collected sediment cores from two ponds on a small island in the Canadian Arctic that is home to the nests of two kinds of seabirds: Arctic terns, which feed primarily on fish, and common eider ducks which feed mainly on mollusks. The researchers analyzed the pond sediment for metals and other indicators of the birds’ activity. 

They found significant differences between the samples that aligned with the birds’ diets. There were higher concentrations of metals such as mercury and cadmium in the sites inhabited by terns, while the nearby eider site recorded higher amounts of lead, manganese, and aluminum. The patterns of metals in the sediment cores matched those recorded in the different bird species’ tissues.  

Queen’s biology professor John Smol says the findings can be applied to other locations. “The High Arctic is an excellent ‘natural laboratory’ to undertake such studies, due to the lack of local industries,” notes Dr. Smol, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change, and winner of the 2004 NSERC Herzberg Gold Medal as Canada’s top scientist. “However, the presence of seabirds on every continent suggests similar processes are operating along coastlines worldwide.  

“Our concern is that these areas of elevated metals and other contaminants occur exactly where biological activity is greatest,” he adds. 

“The seabirds are obviously not directly to blame for the elevated metal concentrations in the ponds,” says team member Jules Blais, a biology professor from the University of Ottawa. “They are simply carrying out their natural behaviours and lifecycles, but have become unwitting vectors of pollutants in an increasingly industrial age.” 

Other members of the multidisciplinary team include Queen’s biology undergraduate student Jaclyn Brash and PhD candidate Joshua Thienpont, Linda Kimpe from the University of Ottawa,  Marianne Douglas (University of Alberta) and Mark Mallory (the Canadian Wildlife Service). 

This research was funded primarily by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Polar Continental Shelf Program (PCSP). 

PLEASE NOTE: A PDF copy of the study can be obtained from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or contact Dr. John Smol at smolj@queensu.ca for a copy. High resolution images are available upon request.

Results from polar research studies around the world will be highlighted at the International Polar Year Conference: From Knowledge to Action, to be held in Montreal in April 2012 and chaired by the Director of Queen’s School of Policy Studies Peter Harrison. 

Contacts:

Nancy Dorrance, 613.533.2869 nancy.dorrance@queensu.ca or Jeff Drake, 613.533.2877, jeff.drake@queensu.ca Queen’s News and Media Services 

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NOTE:  For high resolution JPEGS related to this paper, Click Here.

Link to related studies done at PEARL