Marine organisms are exposed and sensitive to effects of environmental contamination by heavy metals including different forms of mercury. Baltic seals as the top predators of the marine ecosystem are even more endangered due to (considerable) longevity as well as a long biological half-time of toxin elimination. The concentrations of mercury in seals from the Baltic is poorly known, thus the aim of this work is to determine and compare concentrations of mercury in two seal species - grey and ringed seal as well as their feed. The samples were obtained from Environmental Specimen Bank of The Swedish Museum of Natural History, which has a unique -and large- collection of internal organs from grey and ringed seals. The project is focused on seals from three areas of the Baltic Sea (northern, central and southern part of Baltic) and from Greenland that were by caught or shot in 2008-2010. Mercury levels were determined in 208 samples of liver and kidney from juvenile and adult grey and ringed seals and their feed by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS). On the basis of obtained results possible species and regional differences in mercury concentrations will be discussed.
Authors
- dr inż. Gabriela Bajger-Nowak link open in new tab ,
- Anna Roos,
- prof. dr hab. inż. Piotr Konieczka link open in new tab ,
- Iwona Pawliczka,
- Krzysztof Skóra,
- Frank Riget,
- prof. dr hab. inż. Jacek Namieśnik link open in new tab
Additional information
- Category
- Aktywność konferencyjna
- Type
- publikacja w wydawnictwie zbiorowym recenzowanym (także w materiałach konferencyjnych)
- Language
- angielski
- Publication year
- 2010
