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Differential trends in mercury concentrations in double-crested cormorant populations of the Canadian Prairies

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Abstract

Mercury and selenium concentrations were measured in double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus), piscivorous fish, and common prey items in five lakes in two ecoregions in Saskatchewan, Canada. Hg and Se concentrations in cormorants were within the natural ranges of birds living in un-impacted sites. Site explained a significant proportion of the variation in total Hg (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in both cormorant breast muscle and livers. Birds nesting on more northern lakes in the Boreal Plain ecoregion (THg range 0.11–1.06 and 0.26–9.27 μg g−1 wet weight, for breast and liver respectively) had lower THg concentrations compared to those from lakes in the Prairie ecoregion (THg range 0.60–4.26 μg g−1 ww and 1.59–25.11 μg g−1, for breast and liver respectively). Concentrations of MeHg in livers was also lower in birds from northern sites (0.06–1.15 μg g−1 ww) compared to those from prairie sites (0.22–4.06 μg g−1 ww). We documented a wide range of %MeHg in livers (4.5–52 %), indicative of detoxifying MeHg via demethylation to inorganic Hg. Our data suggest that the threshold value where demethylation rates increase substantially appears to be ~10 μg g−1 ww MeHg, similar to thresholds in other wildlife. Molar ratios of Hg:Se suggests that some birds from highly saline Reed Lake in the prairie region had insufficient Se available to bind to Hg, thereby removing Se binding as a mitigative strategy for high Hg levels for these birds.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to K. Hecker, L. Strauss, D. Schroh, B. Deyo, and J. Kroshus who collected cormorants, to C. Gaudet, R. Gosselin, V. Kjoss, H. Miller, and J. Verhagen for assistance in the field, and to C. Hoggarth, and Dr. B. Branfireun and R. Tiller at University of Western Ontario for laboratory analysis. Dr. G. Simpson was invaluable in his assistance with the statistical analysis. N. Burgess provided an early review of our manuscript. All data collection and testing comply with the current laws in Canada. Special Scientific Research: Permits 060040 and 07FW0046 from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. We also acknowledge the technical support in Se analysis provided by S. Misra (Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan). Research was supported by the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (BDH and LMB), the Canada Research Chairs Program (CMS and Dr. Branfireun), and the Saskatchewan Fish and Wildlife Development Fund (BDH and CMS).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada

    Britt D. Hall, Jennifer L. Doucette, Lara M. Bates, Aleksandra Bugajski & Christopher M. Somers

  2. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada

    Som Niyogi

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  1. Britt D. Hall
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Correspondence to Britt D. Hall.

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Hall, B.D., Doucette, J.L., Bates, L.M. et al. Differential trends in mercury concentrations in double-crested cormorant populations of the Canadian Prairies. Ecotoxicology 23, 419–428 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1207-9

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