| Title |
Effects of Age, Colony, and Sex on Mercury Concentrations in California Sea Lions
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, August 2015
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00244-015-0201-4 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Elizabeth A. McHuron, Sarah H. Peterson, Joshua T. Ackerman, Sharon R. Melin, Jeffrey D. Harris, Daniel P. Costa |
| Abstract |
We measured total mercury (THg) concentrations in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and examined how concentrations varied with age class, colony, and sex. Because Hg exposure is primarily via diet, we used nitrogen (δ (15)N) and carbon (δ (13)C) stable isotopes to determine if intraspecific differences in THg concentrations could be explained by feeding ecology. Blood and hair were collected from 21 adult females and 57 juveniles from three colonies in central and southern California (San Nicolas, San Miguel, and Año Nuevo Islands). Total Hg concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 0.31 μg g(-1) wet weight (ww) in blood and 0.74 to 21.00 μg g(-1) dry weight (dw) in hair. Adult females had greater mean THg concentrations than juveniles in blood (0.15 vs. 0.03 μg(-1) ww) and hair (10.10 vs. 3.25 μg(-1) dw). Age class differences in THg concentrations did not appear to be driven by trophic level or habitat type because there were no differences in δ (15)N or δ (13)C values between adults and juveniles. Total Hg concentrations in adult females were 54 % (blood) and 24 % (hair) greater in females from San Miguel than females from San Nicolas Island, which may have been because sea lions from the two islands foraged in different areas. For juveniles, we detected some differences in THg concentrations with colony and sex, although these were likely due to sampling effects and not ecological differences. Overall, THg concentrations in California sea lions were within the range documented for other marine mammals and were generally below toxicity benchmarks for fish-eating wildlife. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 55 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Uruguay | 1 | 2% |
| Belgium | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 53 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 10 | 18% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 9 | 16% |
| Student > Master | 6 | 11% |
| Student > Bachelor | 5 | 9% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 2 | 4% |
| Other | 5 | 9% |
| Unknown | 18 | 33% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 20 | 36% |
| Environmental Science | 10 | 18% |
| Arts and Humanities | 2 | 4% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 2 | 4% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 1 | 2% |
| Other | 3 | 5% |
| Unknown | 17 | 31% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. 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 10 August 2015.
All research outputs
#21,153,429
of 23,806,312 outputs
Outputs from Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
#1,720
of 2,093 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#223,410
of 265,758 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
#43
of 48 outputs
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