Unique pattern of molt leads to low intraindividual variation in feather mercury concentrations in penguins

The authors hypothesized that the catastrophic annual molt of penguins (Sphenisciformes) would lead to reduced intraindividual variation of mercury concentrations in body feathers. While mean mercury concentrations varied significantly among 8 penguin species, intraindividual variability did not dif...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental toxicology and chemistry 2013-10, Vol.32 (10), p.2331-2334
Main Authors: Brasso, Rebecka L., Drummond, Bridgette E., Borrett, Stuart R., Chiaradia, André, Polito, Michael J., Rey, Andrea Raya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal populations
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Applied ecology
Aquatic birds
Aves
Biological and medical sciences
Biomarkers
Biomonitoring
Birds
Body Burden
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Estimates
Feather
Feathers
Feathers - chemistry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Marine
Marine and brackish environment
Mercury
Mercury - analysis
Molting
Penguin
Spheniscidae - metabolism
Toxicology
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
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Summary:The authors hypothesized that the catastrophic annual molt of penguins (Sphenisciformes) would lead to reduced intraindividual variation of mercury concentrations in body feathers. While mean mercury concentrations varied significantly among 8 penguin species, intraindividual variability did not differ among species and was 3 times lower than values observed in other seabirds. The findings of the present study suggest that a single body feather collected at random per individual can be adequate to estimate mercury exposure at the population level in penguins. Environ Toxicol Chem 2013;32:2331–2334. © 2013 SETAC
ISSN:0730-7268
1552-8618
DOI:10.1002/etc.2303