Trace element concentration in whale faeces and muscle, and krill tissue, collected from the Southern Ocean
Whale muscle samples were collected from stranded and dead blue (Baleoptera musculus) and fin (Baleoptera physalus) whales in South-western Australia. Blue, fin, sperm (Physeter macrocephalus), humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and pygmy blue (Baleoptera musculus brevicauda) whale faecal samples were collected from coastal waters off Southern Australia by trawling 0.5 mm mesh nets over the surface waters following defecation. Four species of krill (Nyctiphanes australia, Euphausia pacifica, Meganyctiphanes norvegica), including Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) were collected from various locations worldwide.
We analysed the concentration of iron, cadmium, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, phosphorus and carbon in baleen whale faeces and muscle, and krill tissue using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2014-08-25
- Date (Publication)
- 2014-08-25
Principal investigator
Collaborator
Collaborator
Collaborator
Collaborator
- Purpose
- To determine the elemental composition (iron, cadmium, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, phosphorus, carbon) of baleen whale tissue and krill from the southern ocean.
- Credit
- Antarctic Climate and Ecosystem Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC)
- Credit
- Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)
- Credit
- Australian Marine Mammal Centre
- Credit
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS)
- Status
- On going
Principal investigator
Collaborator
- Topic category
-
- Oceans
Extent
Temporal extent
- Time period
- 1997-01-01T16:34:00
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
Resource format
- Title
- Microsoft Excel
- Date
- Edition
- 2011
- Keywords (Taxon)
-
- Baleen Whale
- Blue Whale
- Baleoptera musculus
- Fin Whale
- Baleoptera physalus
- Sperm Whale
- Physeter macrocephalus
- Humpback Whale
- Megaptera novaeangliae
- Pygmy Blue Whale
- Baleoptera musculus brevicauda
- Krill
- Nyctiphanes australia
- Euphausia pacifica
- Meganyctiphanes norvegica
- Antarctic krill
- Euphausia superba
- Marine Community Profile of ISO19115 v1.4 Geographic Extent Vocabulary
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- Global/Oceans | Southern Ocean
- Continents | Antarctica
- Keywords (Theme)
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- Faeces
- Muscle
- Tissue
- Marine Community Profile of ISO19115 v1.4 Collection Methods vocabulary
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- Mass Spectrometers
- Nets | Surface Nets
- Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords Version 8.0
- Keywords (Theme)
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- Concentration of Iron
- Concentration of Cadmium
- Concentration of Manganese
- Concentration of Cobalt
- Concentration of Copper
- Concentration of Zinc
- Concentration of phosphorus
- Concentration of Carbon
Resource constraints
- Classification
- Unclassified
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- The data described in this record are the intellectual property of the University of Tasmania through the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).
Resource constraints
- Linkage
-
http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/2.5/au/88x31.png
License Graphic
- Title
- Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia License
- Website
-
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/
License Text
- Other constraints
- The citation in a list of references is: citation author name/s (year metadata published), metadata title. Citation author organisation/s. File identifier and Data accessed at (add http link).
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Supplemental Information
- Manuscript in review: Ratnarajah, L., Bowie, A.R., Lannuzel, D., Meiners, K., & Nicol, S. (2014). The biogeochemical role of baleen whales and krill in Southern Ocean nutrient cycling.
Content Information
- Content type
- Physical measurement
- Description
- Also normalised to Carbon
- Name
-
Concentration of Iron
- Name
- Milligrams per kilogram
- Description
- Also normalised to Carbon
- Name
-
Concentration of Cadmium
- Name
- Milligrams per kilogram
- Description
- Also normalised to Carbon
- Name
-
Concentration of Manganese
- Name
- Milligrams per kilogram
- Description
- Also normalised to Carbon
- Name
-
Concentration of Cobalt
- Name
- Milligrams per kilogram
- Description
- Also normalised to Carbon
- Name
-
Concentration of Copper
- Name
- Milligrams per kilogram
- Description
- Also normalised to Carbon
- Name
-
Concentration of Zinc
- Name
- Milligrams per kilogram
- Description
- Also normalised to Carbon
- Name
-
Concentration of phosphorus
- Name
- Milligrams per kilogram
- Description
- Also normalised to Carbon
- Name
-
Concentration of Carbon
- Name
- Milligrams per kilogram
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
-
Microsoft Excel
-
Microsoft Excel
Distributor
Principal investigator
- OnLine resource
-
imas:ACE_LRatnarajah_Trace_element_concentration_whale_faeces_southern_ocean_GV
MAP - region of tissue collection in the Southern Ocean
Resource lineage
- Statement
- 1. Sample collection All sample tissue and faecal matter were stored in individual 50 ml polycarbonate screw cap bottles, preserved in >70% ethanol and frozen at -20°C until analyses. 2. Analysis of the trace element concentration Samples were dried at 60°C until constant weight was attained. Subsequently they were crushed using an acid-cleaned pipette tip and shaken vigorously to homogenise the samples. Digestion of 2–100 mg subsamples were performed in acid-cleaned 15 ml Teflon® perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) vials (Savillex, Minnetonka, MN, USA) by adding 1 ml of concentrated nitric acid and 0.125 ml of hydrogen peroxide (all Ultrapure, Seastar Baseline®, Choice Analytical). The samples were then heated at 125°C for 8 hours on Teflon coated digestion hotplate, housed in a bench-top fume hood coupled with HEPA filters to ensure clean input air (Digiprep, France). Identical procedures were applied to blanks (n = 6) and to two certified referenced materials (n = 5) (DORM-3 fish protein; National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada; and NIST 1566a oyster tissue; National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA). Certified materials, blanks and samples were resuspended in 10–100 mL of 10% v:v nitric acid (Ultrapure, Seastar Baseline) and analysed by sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) (Finnigan MAT ELEMENT 1 Bremen Germany), following methods described in Cullen and Sherrell (1999) and Townsend (2000). 3. Analysis of carbon All glass- and metal-ware in contact with the carbon samples were pre-combusted at 450°C for 12 hours. Subsamples (2–100 mg) of dried faecal matter were placed in 13 mm diameter silver capsules (Sercon, Australia) and carbon content was then determined at the Central Science Laboratory, University of Tasmania, using a Thermo Finnigan EA 1112 Series Flash Elemental Analyser (estimated precision ~1%). Note, for some samples the date of collection was not recorded.
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Platform
Identifier
- Code
- research vessel
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
c744388c-b914-4771-99e2-870bd8114e30
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Publisher
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
- Metadata linkage
-
https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/c744388c-b914-4771-99e2-870bd8114e30
Point of truth URL of this metadata record
- Date info (Creation)
- 2020-10-12T15:27:49
- Date info (Revision)
- 2020-10-12T15:27:49
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-3:2018