Temporal change and the influence of climate and weather factors on mercury concentrations in Hudson Bay polar bears, caribou, and seabird eggs.

Temporal trends of mercury in Arctic wildlife are inconsistent within and between species and are often insignificant, which limits data interpretation. Recent multivariate analyses have shown that weather and climate factors (e.g.

Special issue on mercury in Canada's North: summary and recommendations for future research.

Important scientific advances have been made over the last decade in identifying the environmental fate of mercury and the processes that control its cycling in the Canadian Arctic. This special issue includes a series of six detailed reviews that summarize the main findings of a scientific assessment undertaken by the Government of Canada's Northern Contaminants Program. It was the first assessment to focus exclusively on mercury pollution in the Canadian Arctic.

Effects-based marine ecological risk assessment at a polychlorinated biphenyl-contaminated site in Saglek, Labrador, Canada.

Although the presence and distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Arctic marine environments has been well documented, the implications for the health of biota are poorly understood. In the present study, multiple lines of evidence, including site-specific effects data, were used to assess PCB-related risks to marine biota at a contaminated military site in Saglek Bay, Labrador, Canada, from 1997 to 1999. Risks were evaluated for three components of the ecosystem: benthic invertebrates, a bottom-feeding fish (shorthorn sculpin, Myoxocephalus scorpius), and a diving seabird (black guillemot, Cepphus grylle).

Temporal trends of legacy POPs in Arctic biota, an update.

A statistically robust method was applied to 316 time-series of 'legacy' persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Arctic biota from marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems with the purpose of generating a 'meta-analysis' of temporal trend data collected over the past two to three decades for locations from Alaska in the west to northern Scandinavian in the east. Information from recently published temporal trend studies was tabulated and comparisons were also drawn with trends in arctic air. Most of the analysed time-series of legacy POP compounds showed decreasing trends, with only a few time-series showing significantly increasing trends.

Biological effects of marine PCB contamination on black guillemot nestlings at Saglek, Labrador: liver biomarkers.

Black guillemots (Cepphus grylle) in Saglek Bay, Labrador have elevated polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations due to marine sediment contamination around a former military site. We measured liver biomarkers and sigmaPCB concentrations in 31 nestlings from three PCB-exposure groups: Reference group (range: 15-46 ng/g liver, wet wt.), moderately exposed Islands group (24-150 ng/g), and highly exposed Beach group (170-6200 ng/g).