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Season, molt, and body size influence mercury concentrations in grebes

Overview of attention for article published in Environmental Pollution, May 2017
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  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (69th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (75th percentile)

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Title
Season, molt, and body size influence mercury concentrations in grebes
Published in
Environmental Pollution, May 2017
DOI 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.05.058
Pubmed ID
Authors

C. Alex Hartman, Joshua T. Ackerman, Mark P. Herzog, Collin A. Eagles-Smith

Abstract

We studied seasonal and physiological influences on mercury concentrations in western grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and Clark's grebes (A. occidentalis) across 29 lakes and reservoirs in California, USA. Additionally, at three of these lakes, we conducted a time series study, in which we repeatedly sampled grebe blood mercury concentrations during the spring, summer, and early fall. Grebe blood mercury concentrations were higher among males (0.61 ± 0.12 μg/g ww) than females (0.52 ± 0.10 μg/g ww), higher among Clark's grebes (0.58 ± 0.12 μg/g ww) than western grebes (0.51 ± 0.10 μg/g ww), and exhibited a strong seasonal pattern (decreasing by 60% from spring to fall). Grebe blood THg concentrations exhibited a shallow, inverse U-shaped pattern with body size, and was lowest among the smallest and largest grebes. Further, the relationship between grebe blood mercury concentrations and wing primary feather molt exhibited a shallow U-shaped pattern, where mercury concentrations were highest among birds that had not yet begun molting, decreased approximately 24% between pre-molt and late molt, and increased approximately 19% from late molt to post-molt. Because grebes did not begin molting until mid-summer, lower grebe blood mercury concentrations observed in late summer and early fall were consistent with the onset of primary feather molt. However, because sampling date was a much stronger predictor of grebe mercury concentrations than molt, other seasonally changing environmental factors likely played a larger role than molt in the seasonal variation in grebe mercury concentrations. In the time series study, we found that seasonal trends in grebe mercury concentrations were not consistent among lakes, indicating that lake-specific variation in mercury dynamics influence the overall seasonal decline in grebe blood mercury concentrations. These results highlight the importance of accounting for sampling date, as well as ecological processes that may influence mercury concentrations, when developing monitoring programs to asses site-specific exposure risk of mercury to wildlife.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 39 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 39 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 8 21%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 18%
Researcher 6 15%
Professor 3 8%
Student > Bachelor 2 5%
Other 7 18%
Unknown 6 15%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Environmental Science 13 33%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 12 31%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 1 3%
Unspecified 1 3%
Economics, Econometrics and Finance 1 3%
Other 4 10%
Unknown 7 18%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 May 2018.
All research outputs
#6,755,994
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from Environmental Pollution
#2,581
of 13,435 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#100,251
of 330,283 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Environmental Pollution
#50
of 204 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 73rd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 13,435 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 330,283 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 69% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 204 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 75% of its contemporaries.