Effects of seabird vectors on the fate, partitioning, and signatures of contaminants in a High Arctic ecosystem.

Seabirds bioaccumulate contaminants from prey, transport them to their nesting sites, and deposit them in their excreta and carcasses, thereby focusing marine-derived contaminants into remote, terrestrial receptor sites. In the case of organochlorine chemicals transported by northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) to a High Arctic seabird colony on Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada (76°13'N, 89°14'W), this contaminant pathway dominates all others. In freshwater ponds below the nesting cliffs, concentrations of organochlorine contaminants characteristic of fulmar input were 2- to 45-fold higher in sediments and water (depending on seabird input to the particular pond) than in ponds remote from the colony.

High arctic ponds receiving biotransported nutrients from a nearby seabird colony are also subject to potentially toxic loadings of arsenic, cadmium, and zinc.

The role of northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) was investigated for the transport of nutrients and trace elements to a series of 10 ponds located along a gradient of seabird influence below a fulmar colony in the high Arctic (Cape Vera, Devon Island, Canada). Phosphorus, Cd, K, Zn, and As were identified as seabird-derived elements, having both a high concentration in fulmar guano and a low concentration in background pond sediments (i.e.