| Project Title |  |
| Mercury trends and
distribution as recorded in Bowhead Baleen.
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| Research Team | |
| R.W. Macdonald,
Department of Fisheries & Oceans. P.I. Email: MacDonaldRob@PAC.DFO-MPO.GC.CA
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| Project Summary | |
| Recent assessments strongly suggest that
Hg fluxes are increasing in the Arctic. These increases, if real, pose a serious concern
for country foods, some of which already are at, or exceed, consumption guidelines. Biotic
samples are few and often difficult to compare with one another while sediment core data
are potentially confounded by diagenesis or local focusing. To investigate trends and
variability of Hg in biological systems, they have used as proxy three archived Baleen
Plates from whales taken by natives in the western Arctic. The baleen data have the
potential to provide corroborative evidence of trend and spatial variability as determined
in lake sediment cores with the advantage that they are linked directly to food webs. Research objectives for 1998-99 will be to obtain further baleen samples from appropriate archives/locations; and to complete the analysis of Bowhead baleen plates from western and eastern populations and from ancient (archived) baleen for Hg, (13C, 15N).
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