Hello MARMAM Members,
On behalf of my co-authors and myself, I am pleased to share our new paper,
titled “Walrus teeth as biomonitors of trace elements in Arctic marine
ecosystems”, recently published in Science of the Total Environment. The paper
is open access, and is available here: http://bit.ly/3p2Bfmf
<http://bit.ly/3p2Bfmf>
Clark, C.T., L. Horstmann, and N. Misarti. 2021. Walrus teeth as biomonitors of
trace elements in Arctic marine ecosystems. Science of the Total Environment.
772: 145500. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145500
Abstract:
Effective biomonitoring requires an understanding of the factors driving
concentrations of the substances or compounds of interest in the tissues of
studied organisms. Biomonitoring of trace elements, and heavy metals in
particular, has been the focus of much research; however, the complex roles
many trace elements play in animal and plant tissues can make it difficult to
disentangle environmental signals from physiology. This study examined the
concentrations of 15 trace elements in the teeth of 122 Pacific walruses
(Odobenus rosmarus divergens) to investigate the potential for walrus teeth as
biomonitors of trace elements in Arctic ecosystems. Elemental concentrations
were measured across cementum growth layer groups (GLGs), thereby
reconstructing a lifetime history of element concentrations for each walrus.
The locations of GLGs were used to divide trace element time series into
individual years, allowing each GLG to be associated with an animal age and a
calendar year. The elements studied exhibited a great deal of complexity,
reflecting the numerous factors responsible for generating tooth trace element
concentrations. Generalized linear mixed models were used to investigate the
importance of age and sex in explaining observed variation in trace element
concentrations. Some elements exhibited clear physiological signals
(particularly zinc, strontium, barium, and lead), and all elements except
arsenic varied by age and/or sex. Pearson's correlations revealed that elements
were more strongly correlated among calendar years than among individual
walruses, and correlations of trace elements within individual walruses were
generally inconsistent or weak. Plots of average elemental concentrations
through time from 1945 to 2014 further supported the correlation analyses, with
many elements exhibiting similar patterns across the ~70-year period. Together,
these results indicate the importance of physiology in modulating tooth trace
element concentrations in walrus tooth cementum, but suggest that many trace
elements reflect a record of environmental exposure and dietary intake/uptake.
I am happy to provide a PDF of the article upon request. Please email me at
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> if you are interested,
or if you have any questions about the paper.
Best regards,
Casey Clark
Lead Marine Mammal Researcher
Science Division, Wildlife Program
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
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