Northwest Greenland societies substantially rely on subsistence harvest, a part of which consists of little auks (), an abundant seabird in the Arctic. Although little auks inhabit remote regions, they are prone to accumulating mercury (Hg) in their tissues and ingesting plastics from their environment while feeding. This entails a broad array of health-related issues, from the birds themselves to their local predators including humans. Here, we examined whether Hg and plastic contamination in little auks were influenced by the birds' age class and breeding status, mirrored by brood patch presence and size. Feather Hg concentrations was higher in birds with large brood patches (adults, currently breeding), compared to younger or non-breeding birds. Feather Hg concentrations also positively correlated with nitrogen stable isotope values in feathers, indicative of trophic position fed in the previous summer. Among the 13 examined auks’ gastrointestinal tract, two (15.4 %) contained large polyethylene fragments (6.55 × 4.10 mm, 49.45 mg on average); their occurrence was not found to relate to brood patch size. Although future research is needed on Hg accumulation in internal tissues, our results suggest that consuming adult little auks and the birds' gastrointestinal tracts may increase health-related risks for Arctic communities.

中文翻译：

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在北极高地捕获的海鸟中，巢斑大小可作为羽毛汞浓度的现场指标，但不能作为塑料摄入量的指标：小海雀 Alle alle

格陵兰岛西北部的社会在很大程度上依赖于自给自足的收获，其中一部分包括小海雀，这是北极地区丰富的海鸟。尽管小海雀生活在偏远地区，但它们很容易在组织中积聚汞 (Hg)，并在进食时从环境中摄入塑料。这涉及到一系列广泛的健康相关问题，从鸟类本身到包括人类在内的当地捕食者。在这里，我们检查了小海雀体内的汞和塑料污染是否受到鸟类年龄等级和繁殖状况的影响，这反映在巢斑的存在和大小上。与幼鸟或非繁殖鸟类相比，拥有大片巢斑的鸟类（成年鸟类，目前正在繁殖）的羽毛汞浓度较高。羽毛中的汞浓度也与羽毛中的氮稳定同位素值呈正相关，表明前一年夏天喂食的营养位置。在检查的13只海雀胃肠道中，有2只（15.4%）含有大的聚乙烯碎片（6.55×4.10毫米，平均49.45毫克）；未发现它们的发生与巢斑大小有关。尽管未来需要对内部组织中的汞积累进行研究，但我们的研究结果表明，食用成年小海雀和鸟类的胃肠道可能会增加北极社区的健康相关风险。