Fecal Analysis Reveals Arctic Birds Are Loaded With Environmental Poisons
Although they live in a frigid, desolate part of the world, new research has revealed that arctic birds are still dealing with the consequences of human pollution.
The study analyzed the excrement of Arctic terns and eiders nesting on a small island north of Resolute Bay, an Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region of Canada, and found that in addition to pesticides, the seabirds are loaded with heavy metals such as cadmium and lead, which they pick up from the foods they eat” (Canada.com).
According to the scientists who conducted the study, the birds are unwitting players in a cyclical process that transfers ocean contaminants to the land, where they will slowly but surely make their way back into the water cycle.
The birds are like a funnel and they’re concentrating these contaminants, ” says John Smol, a biologist from Queen’s and one of the co-authors of a study on sea birds published in the recent edition of the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.The seabirds then excrete contaminants from their diet of fish and shellfish around their nesting sites, creating what Smol calls a “boomerang effect,” where contaminants found in the ocean return to the land.
Scientists say that the research findings help reinforce the need for more environmentally sound practices that cut down on ocean contaminants that are being transferred through fish and shellfish.
In light of the ongoing Gulf oil spill crisis, this study implies a depressing fate for both the fish and seabirds that manage to survive.
Image Credit: Flickr – Biillyboy