Bird Droppings Pollute Arctic

Chemical Contamination Created By Guano From Seabirds

(AP) 
The guano that falls into the ponds includes bits of fish, carrion, squid and other marine creatures eaten by the fulmars.

Research team member John Smol of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, said “the effect is to elevate concentrations of pollutants such as mercury and DDT to as much as 60 times that of areas not influenced by seabird populations.”

Todd O'Hara of the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks said the report adds new detail to “the role of biotransport in bringing contaminants to the Arctic with clear local impacts.

“Certainly, I believe biotransport is an underestimated process and for subsistence users it clearly indicates the need for local assessments of food sources and not to generalize about Arctic contamination,” said O'Hara, who was not part of Blais team.

Chemicals such as PCB and DDT are no longer being released into the environment in North America, Blais noted, but were designed to last a long time and are doing so. In addition, he said, other chemicals still in use are toxic and also can last in the environment.

Perhaps the lessons learned from PCBs should be applied to other hazardous chemicals too, Blais said.

The area of the study is one of the most desolate on Earth, Blais said, and the local food chain is dependent on the guano from the seabirds.

Their droppings encourage the growth of mosses and plankton in the ponds, which feed lots of insects, which in turn support small birds called snow buntings, he said.

If the seabirds were to disappear the whole ecosystem would disappear, he said.

“If you fly overhead you can see green mosses growing under the cliffs,” Blais said. “What is particularly striking is that these contaminants are getting concentrated at oases of biological productivity in the north.”

The research was funded by Science and Engineering Research Canada, the EJLB Foundation, the Polar Continental Shelf Project and the Northern Scientific Training Program.