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The analysis of seabird tissues, including eggs, has played an important role in environmental monitoring in Europe and Canada. Eggs are particularly useful for temporal and spatial monitoring of persistent organic pollutants (e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs], chlorinated pesticides, dioxins) and mercury. Levels of these substances in murre (Uria spp.) eggs from colonies in the Barents Sea have been monitored since 1983 (Barrett et al. 1996). The Canadian Wildlife Service successfully documented temporal changes in PCBs and pesticides in the Great Lakes by analyzing herring gull (Larus argentatus) eggs banked as part of its Wildlife Toxicology Program (Mineau et al. 1984, Elliott 1985, Wakeford and Kasserra 1997). In addition, the monitoring of contaminant concentrations in eggs of seabirds from colonies at Prince Leopold Island in the Canadian high Arctic suggests a decrease in most persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in this region since the early 1970’s but an increase in mercury (Braune et al. 2001). The international
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) identified alcid
eggs as key materials for circumpolar monitoring of POPs by all arctic
nations (AMAP Scientific Experts Workshop, Girdwood, Alaska, April
1998). Alcids (seabirds belonging to the family Alcidae) include murres,
murrelets, auklets, guillemots, puffins, dovekies, and razorbills.
Although the first AMAP report on the state of the arctic environment
summarized information on POPs and mercury in seabirds living in northern
regions, it was limited to Canada and Scandinavia (AMAP, 1998). This
report, which is currently being revised, contains data indicating
that piscivorous seabirds feeding near the top of the marine food
web (e.g., cormorants, murres, puffins, kittiwakes) have higher concentrations
of PCBs in their eggs than those feeding at lower levels (e.g., eiders).
POPs levels in seabird eggs were higher in the Scandinavian arctic
than in the Canadian arctic, and within Canada, levels were greater
in the high eastern arctic regions than in the lower western arctic
regions. Also, PCB concentrations approaching levels known to affect
hatching success were found in thick-billed and common murre (Uria
lomvia and U. aalge), puffin (Fratercula spp.),
black guillemot (Cepphus grylle), and black-legged kittiwake
(Rissa tridactyla) eggs from northern latitudes in Canada
and Norway (AMAP 1998).Few data
exist on POPs in colonial seabirds nesting in Alaska. Kawano et al.
(1988) reported chlordane concentrations in thick-billed murres collected
in the North Pacific and Gulf of Alaska in 1980 and 1982. The only
other (and more comprehensive) information on organochlorine residues
in Alaskan seabirds was obtained in the 1970s (see Ohlendorf et al.
1982).1 Extrapolating POPs and mercury values from the Canadian arctic
database is not appropriate, because sources for Alaska are different.
Atmospheric and oceanic transport of contaminants from Southeast Asia
eastward and northward into the Gulf of Alaska and southern Bering
Sea, and the oceanic transport of other substances eastward along
the northern and eastern coasts of Siberia into the western Chukchi
and Bering seas probably affect overall contaminant patterns and levels
in Alaskan seabirds. Local sources from existing and former military
installations may also play roles in pollution patterns in Alaska.More than
95% of the seabirds breeding in the continental United States nest
at colonies in the Bering and Chukchi seas and Gulf of Alaska (USFWS
1992), and about 80% of these birds are found on Alaska Maritime National
Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR) lands (G.V. Byrd, pers. comm.). In 1998, the
U.S. Geological Survey Biological Resources Division (USGS-BRD), AMNWR,
and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated
a joint effort to develop and test protocols for collecting, processing,
transporting, and storing seabird eggs collected at several AMNWR
colonies. Based on this work, the 100-year-long Seabird Tissue Archival
and Monitoring Project (STAMP; see York et al. 2001) was designed
implemented in 1999. This long-term, cooperative project is currently
collecting, processing, and cryogenically storing common and thick-billed
murre and black-legged kittiwake eggs from 9 AMNWR and 3 privately
owned seabird colonies for current and future studies of pollutants,
and it is also analyzing subsamples of the banked eggs to establish
baseline levels of persistent bioaccumulative contaminant (e.g.,
chlorinated pesticides, PCB’s, mercury) at these Alaskan nesting
locations.2 In summary, recently completed STAMP analyses indicate that there are major differences in patterns of anthropogenic contaminants among Alaskan seabird colonies. As additional data become available from sampling locations, they will be compared with previous analyses and relevant historical information from the northern North Pacific and North Atlantic oceans to help define differences among sites and learn how these differences may be related to known sources, transport processes, and bioaccumulation patterns in Alaskan marine ecosystems. Current Project Partners and Participants David Roseneau and Vern Byrd (Alaska Maritime NWR, Homer, Alaska); Geoff York and Kristin Simac (USGS-BRD, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska), Paul Becker, Stacy Vander Pol, John Kucklick, Steven Christopher, Rebecca Pugh, and Barbara Porter (NIST, Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, Charleston, South Carolina, and Gaithersburg, Maryland), and Lyman Thorsteinson (USGS-BRD, Western Regional Office, Seattle, Washington) are primary partners in the STAMP program. Other participants include Scott Hatch (USGS-BRD, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska), David Irons (Migratory Bird Management, USFWS, Anchorage, Alaska), Kevin Winker (University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, Alaska), Alan Springer (University of Alaska Institute of Marine Science and FALCO, Fairbanks, Alaska), Edward Murphy (University of Alaska Institute of Arctic Biology, Fairbanks, Alaska), Loren Buck (University of Alaska School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, Gulf Apex Project, Kodiak, Alaska), and Earl Kingik (Wildlife and Parks Director, Point Hope IRA Council, Point Hope, Alaska).
David G. Roseneau Geoff
W. York Paul R. Becker
Literature Cited AMAP. 1998. AMAP Assessment Report: Arctic Pollution Issues. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Oslo, Norway. Barrett, R.T., J.U. Ksaare, and S.W. Gabrielsen. 1996. Recent changes in levels of persistent organochlorines and mercury in eggs of seabirds from the Barents Sea. Environ. Poll. 92:13-18. Braune, B.M., G.M. Donaldson,
and K.A. Hobson. 2001. Contaminant residues in seabird eggs from the
Canadian Arctic. Part I. Temporal trends 1975-1998. Environ. Poll.
114:39-54. Elliott, J.E. 1985. Specimen banking in support of monitoring for toxic contaminants in Canadian wildlife. In: International Review of Environmental Specimen Banking, S.A. Wise and R. Zeisler (eds.). U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards. Spec. Publ. 706. 4-12. Kawano, M., T. Inoue, T. Wada, H. Hidaka, and R. Tatsukawa. 1988. Bioconcentration and residue patterns of chlordane compounds in marine mammals: invertebrates, fish, mammals and seabirds. Environ. Sci. Technol. 22:792-797. Kucklick, J.R., S.S. Vander Pol, P.R. Becker, R.S. Pugh, K. Simac, G.W. York, and D.G. Roseneau. 2002. Persistent organic pollutants in murre eggs from the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. 22nd International Symposium on Halogenated Environmental Organic Pollutants and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), Barcelona, Spain, August 11-16, 2002. Organohalogen Compounds 59:13-16. Mineau, P., G.A. Fox, R.J. Nordstrom, D.V. Weseloh, D.J. Hallett, and J.A. Ellentonl. 1984. Using the Herring Gull to monitor levels of organochlorine contaminants in the Canadian Great Lakes. In: Toxic Contaminants in the Great Lakes, J.O. Nriagu and A.S. Simmon (eds.). Chap. 19. Ohlendorf, H.M., J.C. Bartonek, G.J. Divoky, E.E. Klaas, and A.J. Krynitsky. 1982. Organochlorine Residues in Eggs of Alaskan Seabirds. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Special Scientific Report - Wildlife No. 245, Wash. D.C. 41 pp. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1992. Alaska Seabird Management Plan. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Birds. Anchorage, AK. Vander Pol, S.S., P.R. Becker, J.R. Kucklick , R.S. Pugh, D.G. Roseneau, K. Simac, and G.W. York. 2002a. Trends in concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in eggs from Alaskan murre colonies. Second AMAP International Symposium on Environmental Pollution of the Arctic, Rovaniemi, Finland, October 1-4, 2002. Extended abstract 0-025. AMAP Report 2002.2, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), Oslo, Norway. Vander Pol, S.S., S.J. Christopher, R. Day, R.S. Pugh, P.R. Becker, D.G. Roseneau, K. Simac, and G.W. York. 2002b. Trends in concentrations of mercury in eggs from Alaskan murre colonies. Second AMAP International Symposium on Environmental Pollution of the Arctic, Rovaniemi, Finland, October 1-4, 2002. Extended abstract P-M40. AMAP Report 2002.2, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), Oslo, Norway. Wakeford, B.J., and M.T. Kasserra. 1997. The relationship between the Canadian Wildlife Service Specimen Bank and the Wildlife Toxicology Program: the effect on specimen collection. Chemosphere 34(9/10): 1933-1938. York, G.W., B.J. Porter, R.S. Pugh, D.G. Roseneau, K. Simac, P.R. Becker, L.K. Thorsteinson, and S.A. Wise. 2001. Seabird Tissue Archival and Monitoring Project: Protocol for Collecting and Banking Seabird Eggs. NISTIR 6735, U.S. Dept. Commerce, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD. 25 pp. 1Ohlendorf et al. (1982) analyzed common murre eggs from Middleton, Bogoslof, and St. George islands, and both common and thick-billed eggs from Ugaiushak Island. He also analyzed black-legged kittiwake eggs from Middleton Island and Bluff, and fork-tailed storm-petrels (O. furcata) from East Amatuli Island. Compounds reported from these early POPs analyses include DDE, dieldrin, heptachlor epoxide, oxychlordane, HCB, and PCBs. 2 STAMP sampling sites currently include Cape Lisburne and Cape Thompson in the eastern Chukchi Sea; Little Diomede Island in Bering Strait; Bluff in Norton Sound; St. Lawrence and St. George islands in the Bering Sea; Bogoslof Island in the Aleutians; Kodiak, East Amatuli, Middleton, and St. Lazaria islands in the Gulf of Alaska; and Shoup Bay in Prince William Sound. return to Alaska Contaminants and Tissue Archival Program Home |
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Protocols
for collecting, sampling, processing, transporting, and storing murre
eggs were developed and tested in 1998–1999, when murre eggs
were obtained from Cape Lisburne in the Chukchi Sea, Little Diomede
Island in Bering Strait, St. George Island in the southern Bering
Sea, Bogoslof Island in the Aleutian Islands, East Amatuli Island
in the northern Gulf of Alaska, and St. Lazaria Island in the southeastern
Gulf of Alaska. These protocols were published (see York et al. 2001).
Analyses of eggs from selected colonies were begun to establish a
baseline of values for use in long-term studies of POPs and mercury
levels in Alaskan murres (e.g., see Christopher et al. 2002; Kucklick
et al. 2002; Vander Pol et al. 2002a; Vander Pol et al. 2002b). After
baseline data sets have been developed for the complete suite of STAMP
colonies, eggs will be collected from the sampling sites and checked
for potentially harmful contaminants every 5 to 10 years. As funding
becomes available, this long-term project will be expanded to monitor
POPs and mercury in other seabirds breeding in the Bering and Chukchi
seas and Gulf of Alaska. STAMP has added black-legged kittiwakes to
its official list of sampled species. Other species that will be added
to the project over the next several years include glaucous and glaucous-winged
gulls (L. glaucescens and L. hyperboreus), black
guillemots, storm-petrels (Oceanodroma spp.), and auklets
(Aethia spp.). Preliminary
results suggest that there are substantial geographical differences
between concentrations of anthropogenic contaminants in murre eggs
from Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Aliquots of common murre eggs
from St. Lazaria and East Amatuli islands in the Gulf of Alaska and
Little Diomede and St. George islands in the Bering Sea were analyzed
for total mercury. The two Gulf of Alaska colonies had significantly
higher concentrations of total mercury (St. Lazaria and East Amatuli
islands had 207 ± 60 and 200 ± 80 ng/g wet weight, respectively)
than those from those from the Bering Sea (St. George and Little Diomede
islands had 26 ± 10 and 53 ± 20 ng/g wet weight, respectively).
Mercury
levels in the Gulf of Alaska common murre colonies were substantially
less than levels recently reported by Braune et al. (2001) for thick-billed
murre eggs from Prince Leopold Island (330 ± 20 ng/g wet weight).
The range in total mercury concentrations in Alaskan common murre
eggs were similar to what was reported by Barrett et al. (1996) for
common and thick-billed murre colonies in the Barents Sea, the highest
levels (for thick-billed murres from Svaldbard) being the same as
the highest levels in the Gulf of Alaska colonies. Braune et al. (2001)
has shown that mercury has been increasing in seabird eggs from the
Prince Leopold colonies since the mid-1970s. This is consistent with
other studies suggesting that mercury is increasing in the environment,
world-wide, and supports the idea that the continued monitoring of
mercury in Alaskan seabirds is warranted. STAMP will analyze the Alaskan
murre eggs in the near future to determine what proportion of the
total mercury consists of toxic methylmercury.Aliquots
of common murre eggs from Little Diomede, St. George, and Bogoslof
islands in the Bering Sea and East Amatuli and St. Lazaria islands
in the Gulf of Alaska were analyzed for POPs. Thick-billed murre eggs
from St. George and Bogoslof islands were also analyzed for POPs.
POPs with the highest concentrations in all murre colonies were SPCBs
(sum of 46 congeners), 4,4’-DDE, HCB, and oxychlordane. The
concentrations of POPs were generally highest in the Gulf of Alaska
colonies. Concentrations of 4,4’-DDE were significantly higher
in common murre eggs from St. Lazaria and East Amatuli islands in
the Gulf of Alaska (2440 ± 800 and 1570 ± 740 ng/g lipid
weight, respectively) than eggs from the Bering Sea colonies (Little
Diomede, St. George, and Bogoslof islands) and in concentrations reported
by Braune et al. (2001) from Prince Leopold Island thick-billed murre
colonies (775 ± 54 ng/g lipid weight). Also, the contribution
of 4,4'-DDE to the total concentration of POPs was twice as high at
St. Lazaria and East Amatuli as it was at the three Bering Sea colonies.
The mean
concentrations of 4,4’-DDE were significantly lower in eggs
of common murres from Bogoslof and St. George islands than what was
reported by Ohlendorf et al. (1982) for eggs collected from these
same colonies in 1973-1976 (35% for Bogoslof Island and 73% for St.
George Island). This suggests a decline of this compound in these
birds over the last 25 to 30 years, which is consistent with the 50%
decline reported by Braune et al. (2001) in thick-billed murres from
Prince Leopold Island during the same time period.The common
murre eggs from St. Lazaria Island had concentrations of SPCBs significantly
higher (1970 ± 800 ng/g lipid weight) than eggs from any of
the other Alaskan colonies or Prince Leopold Island thick-billed murres,
but HCB was significantly lower in the St. Lazaria eggs (i.e., 316
± 72 ng/g lipid weight). This contaminant increased westward
and northward, with the highest concentrations found in eggs from
Little Diomede Island (685 ± 190 ng/g lipid weight). The levels
at Little Diomede Island were also almost twice as high as concentrations
reported for Prince Leopold Island thick-billed murres (Braune et
al. 2001). Compared to this Canadian high Arctic colony, concentrations
of both dieldrin and oxychlordane were substantially lower in all
of the Alaskan murres.There
also appear to be differences between Alaskan common and thick-billed
murres At both St. George and Bogoslof islands, concentrations of
4,4’-DDE were higher in the thick-billed murre eggs than in
the common murre eggs (1040 ± 225 vs. 712 ± 140 ng/g
lipid weight at Bogoslof Island and 1374 ± 631 vs. 594 ±
150 ng/g lipid weight at St. George Island, respectively). There were
also species differences in other compounds; however, these differences
were not consistent between the two colony locations.Regional
differences in individual POPs contributions to total POPs levels
in the eggs were tested using principal components analysis. Results
indicated that there were both colony and species specific differences
in regional patterns of contamination. A geographic gradient appeared
to be present in the patterns, with the largest differences occurring
between the northern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska common murre colonies,
while values from Bogoslof Island in the Aleutians fell between these
levels. The higher chlorinated PCB congeners tended to show significant
geographic differences compared to the less chlorinated congeners.
This was expected, because highly chlorinated congeners are more resistant
to metabolic breakdown and they tend to be conserved and more reflective
of bioaccumulation differences.