Caio Cipro (Laboratório de Química Orgânica Marinha, Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil) and colleagues have published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin on mercury levels in Southern Giant Petrels Macronectes giganteus (and other biota) on King George Island, Antarctica.  The Southern Giant Petrels showed much higher Hg concentrations than from elsewhere, although this may be due to a small sample “or to some local effect”.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Mercury (Hg) can reach the environment through natural and human-related sources, threatening ecosystems all over the planet due to its well-known deleterious effects. Therefore, Antarctic trophic webs, despite being relatively isolated, are not exempt of its influence. To evaluate Hg concentrations in an Antarctic ecosystem, different tissues from 2 species of invertebrates, 2 of fish, 8 of birds, 4 of pinnipeds and at least 5 of vegetation were investigated (n=176). For animals, values ranged from 0.018 to 48.7 μg g−1 dw (whole Antarctic krill and Antarctic Fur Seal liver). They were generally correlated to trophic position (assessed by δ15N and δ13C) but also to cephalopods and myctophids consumption. For vegetation, values ranged from 0.014 to 0.227 μg g−1 dw (Colobanthus quitensis and an unidentified lichen), with lichens presenting significantly higher values than mosses, likely due to year-round exposure and absorption of animal derived organic matter, as hypothesized by literature.”

A Southern Giant Petrel in Antarctica, photograph by Michael Dunn

Reference:

Cipro, C.V.Z., Montone, R.C. & Bustamante, P. 2017  Mercury in the ecosystem of Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctica: Occurrence and trophic distribution.  Marine Pollution Bulletin 114: 564-570.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 February 2017

Maria Petry and Victória Benemann (Laboratório de Ornitologia e Animais Marinhos, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, São Leopoldo, Brazil) have published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin on marine debris in corpses of White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis on 120-km shoreline surveys in Brazil over 11 years from 1990 to 2014.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Seabirds are amongst the most affected organisms by plastic pollution worldwide. Ingestion of marine debris has been reported in at least 122 species, and owing to the increasing global production and persistence of these anthropogenic materials within the marine environment, it is expected to be a growing problem to the marine fauna. Here we report evidence of an increasing frequency in marine debris ingestion and a decrease in the amount of plastic pellets ingested by White-chinned Petrels attending south Brazilian waters during the last three decades. Future studies comprising large temporal scales and large sample sizes are needed to better understand the trends of marine debris ingestion by seabirds. We expect our findings to highlight the need for prevention policies and mitigation measures to reduce the amount of solid litter in the oceans.”

A White-chinned Petrel pair duet, photograph by Ben Phalan

Reference:

Petry, M.V. & Benemann, V.R.F. 2017.  Ingestion of marine debris by the White-chinned Petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis): is it increasing over time off southern Brazil?  Marine Pollution Bulletin doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.01.073.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 July 2017

Nola Parsons (Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, Bloubergrant, South Africa) and colleagues have published in the journal Veterinary Parasitology on blood parasites found in seabirds taken in for rehabilitation.

Six ACAP-listed species of albatrosses and petrels were examined with Hepatozoon albatrossi recorded in one of eight Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris.  Plasmodium sp. was found in one of 18 Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes halli.  Spirochaete bacteria were found in a single Southern Giant Petrel M. giganteus out of 27 examined.  Blood parasites were not detected in 17 White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis, two Shy Albatrosses T. cauta and one Light-Mantled Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata.  Infection levels in Southern Ocean procellariiforms, including ACAP-listed species examined, were much lower than in more inshore-foraging continental species.

Black-browed Albatross, phtotograph by Richard Phillips

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Blood parasites are generally uncommon in seabirds, and knowledge on their epidemiology is further limited by the fact that they often inhabit remote locations that are logistically difficult or expensive to study. We present a long term data set of blood smear examinations of 1909 seabirds belonging to 27 species that were admitted to a rehabilitation centre in Cape Town (Western Cape, South Africa) between 2001 and 2013.  Blood parasites were detected in 59% of species (16/27) and 29% of individuals examined (551/1909).  The following blood parasites were recorded: Babesia ugwidiensis, Babesia peircei, Babesia sp., Plasmodium sp., Leucocytozoon ugwidi, Hepatozoon albatrossi, Haemoproteus skuae and Spirochaetales.  Several of the records are novel host-parasite associations, demonstrating the potential of rehabilitation centres for parasite and disease surveillance, particularly for species infrequently sampled from which no host-specific parasites have been described.”

Reference:

Parsons, N.J., Voogt, N.M., Schaefer, A.M., Peirce, M.A. & Vanstreels, .RE.T. 2017.  Occurrence of blood parasites in seabirds admitted for rehabilitation in the Western Cape, South Africa, 2001–2013.  Veterinary Parasitology 233: 52-61.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 February 2017

Miguel Ferrer (Applied Ecology Group, Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC) Seville, Spain) and colleagues have published in the journal Polar Biology on blood plasma values of Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris chicks and adults.

The paper’s abstract follows:

Blood chemical reference values and variations in them in long-lived endangered birds are of metabolic, veterinary, ecological and/or taxonomic interest.  In the present study, we for the first time provide such reference values and test the influence of sex, age, and nest location on up to 11 plasma values in nesting black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophrys [sic]) that we sampled in 2015 on the Falkland Islands.  Our results showed that differences between sexes were not significant for any of the parameters for which we tested.  We found insignificant differences in metabolically related parameters in nestlings being raised in the middle of nesting colonies and those being raised at the edges of the colonies indicating that nest location did not affect the nutritional status or health of young, developing albatrosses.  Conversely, age had a significant effect on a number of metabolites, inorganic ions and enzymatic activity.  In particular, age-related differences in glucose, triglyceride, urea, and uric acid suggested that the relative metabolic rate was higher in nestling than in adult albatrosses.”

Black-browed Albatrosses allopreening, photograph by Aleks Terauds

Reference:

Ferrer, M., Morandini, V., Perry, L. & Bechard, M. 2017.  Factors affecting plasma chemistry values of the black-browed albatross Thalassarche melanophrys.  Polar Biology doi:10.1007/s00300-017-2075-6.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 February 2017