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Mercury contamination in the tropical seabird community from Clipperton Island, eastern Pacific Ocean

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Abstract

Mercury (Hg) pollution is a global problem affecting remote areas of the open ocean, but the bioaccumulation of this neurotoxic pollutant in tropical top predators remains poorly documented. The objective of this study was to determine Hg contamination of the seabird community nesting on Clipperton Island using blood and feathers to investigate short and longer-term contamination, respectively. We examined the significance of various factors (species, sex, feeding habitat [δ13C] and trophic position [δ15N]) on Hg concentrations in six seabird species. Among species, Great Frigatebirds had the highest Hg concentrations in blood and feathers, boobies had intermediate values, and Brown Noddies and Sooty Terns the lowest. At the interspecific level, although δ13C values segregated boobies from frigatebirds and noddies/terns, Hg concentrations were explained by neither δ13C nor δ15N values. At the intraspecific level, both Hg concentrations in blood and feathers show relatively small variations (16–32 and 26–74%, respectively), suggesting that feeding ecology had low seasonal variation among individuals. Despite most species being sexually dimorphic, differences in Hg contamination according to sex was detected only in Brown Boobies during the breeding period. Indeed, female Brown Boobies feed at a higher trophic level and in a different area than males during this period, resulting in higher blood Hg concentrations. The present study also shows that most of the seabirds sampled at Clipperton Island had little or no exposure to Hg toxicity, with 30% in the no risk category and 70% in the low risk category.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Jean-Louis Etienne who organised the expedition on Clipperton Island for the logistical and financial support of the study, and all participants of the expedition who helped us during the field work. We are grateful to Cécile Riboud from the Service d’Analyses Biologiques (CEBC) for molecular sexing, Carine Churlaud from the Plateforme Analyses Elémentaires (LIENSs) for her support during Hg analysis, and Gaël Guillou from the Plateforme Analyses Isotopiques (LIENSs) for running stable isotope measurements. Thanks are due to the CPER (Contrat de Projet Etat-Région) and the FEDER (Fonds Européen de Développement Régional) for funding the AMA and the IRMS of LIENSs laboratory. The IUF (Institut Unsiversitaire de France) is acknowledged for its support to PB as a Senior Member. This work benefitted from the French GDR “Aquatic Ecotoxicology” framework, that aims to foster stimulating scientific discussions and collaborations for more integrative approaches.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Littoral Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 2 rue Olympe de Gouges, 17000, La Rochelle, France

    Paco Bustamante, Thibault Le Verge & Maud Brault-Favrou

  2. Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), 1 rue Descartes, 75005, Paris, France

    Paco Bustamante

  3. Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), UMR 7372 CNRS-La Rochelle Université, 79360, Villiers-en-Bois, France

    Charles-André Bost, Henri Weimerskirch & Yves Cherel

  4. UMR ENTROPIE (Université de La Réunion, IRD, CNRS, IFREMER, Université de Nouvelle-Calédonie), Université de La Réunion, 15 Avenue René Cassin, CS92003, Saint Denis cedex, 997744, La Réunion, France

    Matthieu Le Corre

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  1. Paco Bustamante
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  2. Thibault Le Verge
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  3. Charles-André Bost
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  4. Maud Brault-Favrou
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Contributions

PB: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Supervision, Investigation, Validation, Funding acquisition, Writing—Original draft, reviewing and editing. TLV, C-AB, MB-F, MLC, HW: Investigation, Writing—Reviewing and editing. YC: Conceptualisation, Supervision, Investigation, Validation, Writing—Reviewing and editing. All the authors revised and approved the ms.

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Correspondence to Paco Bustamante.

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Bustamante, P., Le Verge, T., Bost, CA. et al. Mercury contamination in the tropical seabird community from Clipperton Island, eastern Pacific Ocean. Ecotoxicology 32, 1050–1061 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-023-02691-2

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