WP4 Metals and Metalloids
Room 16A/B, Level 4
2:10 PM - 5:30 AM, Wednesday, 12 November 2003
Chair: Gensemer, Bob ,
Co-chair: Van Gendren, Eric ,
(438) Mercury Concentration Trends in Eggs from Alaskan Murre (Uria spp.) Colonies.
Vander Pol, S.1, Day, R.1, Christopher, S.1, Becker, P.1, Kucklick, J.1, Pugh, R.1, Roseneau, D.2, 1 National Institute of Standards and Technology, Charleston, SC2 US Fish and Wildlife Service, Homer, AK
ABSTRACT- Several studies have found increasing concentrations of mercury over time in murre (Uria spp.) eggs from the Baltic Sea and Eastern Canada, but no research has been conducted in Alaska where the eggs of these piscivorous seabirds are consumed as part of some Alaskan Native diets. Mercury was determined in murre eggs collected at five nesting colonies in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea in 1999 and 2000. Samples were analyzed by isotope dilution cold vapor inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ID-CV-ICPMS). Mercury concentrations were significantly higher in the Gulf of Alaska eggs (mean ± 1 SD wet mass, 203 ng/g ± 66 ng/g) than in the Bering Sea eggs (36.1 ng/g ± 19 ng/g), which followed the same pattern found for many organochlorine contaminants in these same eggs. Mercury concentrations were also significantly higher in the thick-billed murre (U. lomvia) eggs (67.4 ng/g ± 34 ng/g) than in the common murre (U. aalge) eggs (28.3 ng/g ± 11 ng/g ) from St. George and Bogoslof islands, which was also consistent with analytical results for 4,4'-DDE and some PCB congeners in these same eggs. Biogeochemical changes resulting in differences in contaminant concentrations in prey species may help explain these variations. Unanalyzed samples from the cryohomogenized eggs are being stored at NIST's National Biological Specimen Bank (NBSB) in Charleston, SC as part of the Seabird Tissue Archival and Monitoring Project (STAMP). The banked samples will provide material for future contaminant retrospective analyses and long-term studies of changes in contaminant concentrations.
Key words: seabird, mercury, Alaska, eggs