Poster Presentation Society for Freshwater Science 2026 Annual Meeting

Temporal and interspecific variation in mercury between three avian species in northwest Greenland (135810)

Nicole Fordree 1 , Matt Chumchal 1 , Kurt Burnham 2 , Jennifer Burnham 3 , Kimberlee Whitmore 1 , Jeff Wesner 4 , Camryn Middlebrooks 1 , Titus Crawford 1 , Abi Welch 1 , Fallon Meyer 3
  1. Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, United States
  2. High Arctic Institute, Orion, IL, United States
  3. Department of Geography, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL, United States
  4. Department of Biology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, United States

The Arctic is a sink for globally emitted mercury, which is deposited and methylated into its bioavailable form, methylmercury, in freshwater and marine environments. Methylmercury can then bioaccumulate in the tissues of organisms that feed from aquatic environments, and biomagnify up Arctic food webs. Birds are particularly prone to mercury contamination due to their elevated trophic position within Arctic food webs, and their eggs are a valuable tool to study temporal and interspecific trends of mercury exposure. Eggs provide information on mercury accumulated in the mother from the local environment during the breeding season. Temporal variation in mercury concentrations in eggs is highly variable across the Arctic, with different regions exhibiting distinct trends. However, there have been no studies investigating the long-term temporal variation of mercury in bird eggs from northwest Greenland. The purpose of this study was to assess temporal trends of mercury in the eggs of three avian species that breed in northwest Greenland from 2014 to 2024: Thick-billed Murres, Black-legged Kittiwakes, and Common Eiders. Egg contents were analyzed for total mercury, a proxy for methylmercury in avian studies. We found the highest mercury concentrations in Thick-billed Murre eggs, followed by Black-Legged Kittiwakes and Common Eiders. Concentrations of total mercury in Common Eider increased from 2014 to 2023 and 2024. In the face of multiple stressors threatening Arctic ecosystems, monitoring mercury contamination is key to assessing the resilience of wildlife populations. This study also provides insight into the effectiveness of global mercury-reducing initiatives like the Minamata Convention.

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