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Seabird transported contaminants are dispersed in island ecosystems

Seabirds are long-range transporters of nutrients and contaminants, linking marine feeding areas with terrestrial breeding and roosting sites. By depositing nutrient-rich guano, which acts as a fertiliser, seabirds can substantially influence the terrestrial environment in which they reside. However, increasing pollution of the marine environment has resulted in guano becoming similarly polluted. Here, we determined metal and metalloid concentrations (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb) in Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) guano, soil, terrestrial flora, and primary consumers and used an ecological approach to assess whether the trace elements in guano were bioaccumulating and contaminating the surrounding environment. Concentrations in guano were higher than those of other Procellariiformes documented in the literature, which may be influenced by the high amounts of plastics that this species of shearwater ingests. Soil samples from shearwater colonies had significantly higher concentrations of all metals, except for Pb, than soils from control sites and formerly occupied areas. Concentrations in terrestrial primary producers and primary consumers were not as marked, and for many contaminants there was no significant difference observed across levels of ornithogenic input. We conclude that Flesh-footed Shearwaters are transporters of marine derived contaminants to the Lord Howe Island terrestrial environment.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Publication)
2024-06-04T00:00:00
Citation identifier
doi:10.25959/56N1-EC97

Title
Information and documentation - Digital object identifier system
Date (Publication)
2024-06-04
Citation identifier
ISO 26324:2012

Citation identifier
https://doi.org/10.25959/56N1-EC97

Resource provider

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Private Bag 129
Hobart
Tasmania
7001
Australia

Author

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania (UTAS) - Grant, Megan
Private Bag 129
Hobart
TAS
7001
Australia
ORCID ID >

Status
Completed

Author

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania (UTAS) - Grant, Megan
Hobart
TAS
7001
Australia
ORCID ID >

Extent

N
S
E
W


Temporal extent

Time period
2019-04-26 2021-05-10
Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned
Keywords (Theme)
  • Seabirds
  • Guano
  • Bioaccumulation
  • Plastics
  • Procellariiformes
Keywords (Taxon)
  • Ardenna
Global Change Master Directory Earth Science Keywords, Version 8.5
  • EARTH SCIENCE | AGRICULTURE | SOILS | HEAVY METALS
  • EARTH SCIENCE | ATMOSPHERE | ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY | TRACE ELEMENTS/TRACE METALS
  • EARTH SCIENCE | BIOSPHERE | ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS | ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS
  • EARTH SCIENCE | AGRICULTURE | ANIMAL SCIENCE | ANIMAL MANURE AND WASTE
  • EARTH SCIENCE | AGRICULTURE | SOILS
  • EARTH SCIENCE | AGRICULTURE | SOILS | SOIL CHEMISTRY
AODN Discovery Parameter Vocabulary
  • Concentration of Arsenic
  • Concentration of Lead
  • Concentration of Cadmium
  • Concentration of Chromium
  • Concentration of Copper
  • Concentration of Mercury
AODN Geographic Extents Vocabulary
  • Offshore Islands (Australia) | Offshore Islands (Australia) | Lord Howe Island
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC): Fields of Research
  • Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology)
  • Wildlife and Habitat Management

Resource constraints

Use limitation
Data, products and services from IMAS are provided "as is" without any warranty as to fitness for a particular purpose.

Resource constraints

Other constraints
This dataset is the intellectual property of the University of Tasmania (UTAS) through the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS).

Resource constraints

Linkage
https://licensebuttons.net/l/by/4.0/88x31.png

License Graphic

Title
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Alternate title
CC-BY
Edition
4.0


>

Website
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

License Text

Other constraints
Cite data as: Grant, M. (2024). Seabird transported contaminants are dispersed in island ecosystems [Data set]. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. https://doi.org/10.25959/56N1-EC97
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Supplemental Information
Grant, ML, Bond, AL, Reichman, SM, Lavers, JL (2024). Seabird transported contaminants are dispersed in island ecosystems. Chemosphere [in press]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142483

Content Information

Content type
Physical measurement

Identifier

Code
Concentration of Arsenic
Name
Arsenic

Name
mg/kg

Identifier

Code
Concentration of Lead
Name
mg/kg

Identifier

Code
Concentration of Cadmium
Name
Cadmium

Name
mg/kg

Identifier

Code
Concentration of Chromium
Name
Chromium

Name
mg/kg

Identifier

Code
Concentration of Copper
Name
Copper

Name
mg/kg

Identifier

Code
Concentration of Mercury
Name
Mercury

Name
mg/kg

Distribution Information

Distribution format
  • Microsoft Excel

OnLine resource
DATA ACCESS - contaminant concentrations raw data [.xlsx]

OnLine resource
PUBLICATION - associated publication

Resource lineage

Statement
There is one spreadsheet included in this record. It contains the raw data for this paper and includes the concentrations (mg/kg) of the following metals and metalloids (As, Hg, Pb, Cd, Cu, Cr) in the following samples (guano, leopard slugs, soil, kentia palm leaves) collected from three areas on Lord Howe Island, Australia spanning a gradient of seabird influence. The first site is a Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) colony (guano was collected here only), the second site was a Flesh-footed Shearwater colony in the past but has been abandoned for ~20 years, and the last site acted as the control (i.e., no active or historical seabird colony present). These sites are denoted as Current Colony; CC, Abandoned Colony; AC, and Never Colonised; NC, respectively. The samples were collected as follows: GUANO: Flesh-footed Shearwater adults were placed in a sterile box until defecation, or until the holding time reached a maximum of 10 minutes. Guano was scraped into an Eppendorf tube and frozen. Guano samples from chicks were collected from euthanised birds. For these samples, the last 10 cm of the gastro-intestinal tract (including the cloaca) was removed and the contents expelled into an Eppendorf tube and frozen. SOIL: 10 soil samples were collected from each site, 5 from a depth range of 0-5 cm, and 5 from a depth range of 25-30 cm. KENTIA PALM LEAVES: The youngest fully expanded leaf from 5 randomly selected kentia palms was collected from each site. Leaves were dried. LEOPARD SLUG: ~10 leopard slugs were collected from each site at night using a spotlight. Slugs were then euthanised and dessicated. All samples were analysed for As, Hg, Pb, Cd, Cu, and Cr by ICP-MS.
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Hierarchy level
Dataset

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/f0e28662-b487-4d2a-bac0-80f6860a08f9

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distributor

IMAS Data Manager - Data Officer
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
Private Bag 129
Hobart
Tasmania
7001
Australia
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) website >

Type of resource

Resource scope
Dataset
Name
IMAS Dataset level record
Metadata linkage
https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/f0e28662-b487-4d2a-bac0-80f6860a08f9

Point of truth URL of this metadata record

Date info (Creation)
2024-06-01T00:00:00
Date info (Revision)
2024-08-30T14:33:51

Metadata standard

Title
ISO 19115-3:2018
 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

Bioaccumulation Guano Plastics Procellariiformes Seabirds
AODN Discovery Parameter Vocabulary
Concentration of Arsenic Concentration of Cadmium Concentration of Chromium Concentration of Copper Concentration of Lead Concentration of Mercury
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC): Fields of Research
Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Wildlife and Habitat Management
Global Change Master Directory Earth Science Keywords, Version 8.5
EARTH SCIENCE | AGRICULTURE | ANIMAL SCIENCE | ANIMAL MANURE AND WASTE EARTH SCIENCE | AGRICULTURE | SOILS EARTH SCIENCE | AGRICULTURE | SOILS | HEAVY METALS EARTH SCIENCE | AGRICULTURE | SOILS | SOIL CHEMISTRY EARTH SCIENCE | ATMOSPHERE | ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY | TRACE ELEMENTS/TRACE METALS EARTH SCIENCE | BIOSPHERE | ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS | ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS

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