NPRB Project No. 534 Interim Analytical Results Expanding the Seabird Tissue Archival and Monitoring Project in the North Pacific Interim Analytical Results NPRB Project No. 534 David G. Roseneau, Paul R. Becker, Steven J. Christopher, Glenn K. Chen, W. Clay Davis, Rusty D. Day, Michael B. Ellisor, David Point, Rebecca S. Pugh, Kristin Simac, Stacy S. Vander Pol, and Geoffrey S. York

Long History of Using Seabird Eggs for Environmental Monitoring and Research Canadian Wildlife Service has used seabird eggs for monitoring chemicals in the environment since 1968

Advantages of using seabird eggs for monitoring Contain bioaccumulative contaminants Representative of female exposure Indicative of the contaminant burden of the next generation Relatively easily collected Relatively low inter-colony variability (enhanced statistical power)

Factors to consider when using seabird eggs Effect of egg laying sequence Representation of area (where bird is exposed) Position of species in food web Shifts in food source Effect on contaminant concentration in the food Effect on energy content of the food Egg collection logistics

POPs - common murre (Marth et al. 2000) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 POPs - common murre (Marth et al. 2000) POPs & PBDEs – common murre (Bignert et al. 1995) PBDEs – common murre (Kierkegaard et al. 1999) POPs & Hg - herring gull, common & thick-billed murre, black-legged kittiwake, razorbill, puffin (Barrett et al. 1985; 1996) POPs & Hg - thick-billed murre, black-legged kittiwake, northern fulmar (Braune et al. 2001; 2002) POPs – herring gull (Elliott 1985; Wakeford & Kasserra 1997; Hebert 1999) PBDEs – herring gull (Norstrom et al. 2002) First “biomagnifying natural POPs” reported - Leach’s storm petrel (Tittlemier et al. 1999; 2002)* Dioxin, PCBs, & PBDEs - Caspian, Forsters, least tern (She et al. 2004) *(halogenated dimethyl bypyrroles)

Use of Seabird Eggs for Environmental Monitoring in Alaska Bering Sea & Gulf of Alaska - 15 species: geographic comparison of POPs in 18 colonies from collections during 1970s (Ohlendorf et al. 1982) Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea, & Gulf of Alaska – herring, glaucous, glaucous-winged gull: geographic comparisons of POPs and heavy metals in 5 colonies (Jack and Martinez 2003)

Persistent Bioaccumulative Contaminants Organohalogen Compounds (OCs): Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) – 50 congeners DDT compounds - 6 dominated by 4,4’-DDE Chlordane compounds - 5 dominated by trans-nonachlor and oxychlordane Heptachlor epoxide Dieldrin Hexachlorobenezene (HCB) Hexachlorocyclohexane (a-, b-, g-) Mirex Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) – 11 congeners Metals and Organometallic Compounds: Mercury, methylmercury, butyltin compounds (mono-, di-, tri-)

Colonies with analytical results St. Lazaria I. Viesokoi Rock Hooper Bay Little Diomede I. Bogoslof I. St. George I. East Amatuli I. Colonies with analytical results Noatak Thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) Common murres (U. aalge) Glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus) Glaucous-winged gulls (L. glaucescens) Togiak OCs Hg, MeHg Butyl-Sn PBDEs MeHg St. Lawrence I. Cape Lisburne

Why murres? Global distribution Do not migrate great distances Diving fish feeders Lay large single egg Eggs important in subsistence diets COMU TBMU

Why gulls? Global distribution Feed on: fish and invertebrates other bird’s eggs garbage dumps animal carcasses Eggs important in subsistence diets 2 - 3 egg clutch GWGU GLGU

Geographic Patterns?

Total Mercury, Common Murres East Amatuli I. St. George I. Bogoslof I. Little Diomede Total Mercury, Common Murres From: Christopher et al. 2002 > 95 % in the form of methyl-Hg St. Lazaria I.

n=9 n=11 n=10 From: Vander Pol et al. 2004 Common Murres

Common & Thick-billed Murres 3 9 7 11 10 n = Gulf of Alaska Bering Sea From: Vander Pol et al. 2004 & Vander Pol, unpublished Common & Thick-billed Murres Chukchi Sea

Total Mercury Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska BO = Bogoslof I LD = Little Diomede I SG = St. George I EA = East Amatuli I SL = St. Lazaria I CO = Common murre TB = Thick-billed murre BOCO LDCO SGCO SGTB BOTB EACO SLCO 1999 2001 SLTB Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska From: Christopher et al. 2002; Day, et al. in press

Comparisons to other colonies Common Murre Thick-Billed Murre Stora Karlsö E. Finmark & Kola Peninsula Svaldbard Prince Leopold I. Farrallon I. STAMP Colonies Comparisons to other colonies

ng/g wet mass ± 91 CA, USA 1993 Norway 1992-1993 Alaska, USA 1999-2000 E. Canada 1998 ± 91 ng/g wet mass CO TB SP

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs Common Murre Thick-billed Murre Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs Wide variation in values; no significant differences between species; BDEs 17, 71, 66, 85, and 138 were below the limit of detection From: Vander Pol, unpublished St. Lazaria I., Gulf of Alaska

Species Differences?

Murres Hg: St. Lazaria – COMU > TBMU From: Vander Pol et al. 2004; Vander Pol unpublished; Day et al. in press Murres Hg: St. Lazaria – COMU > TBMU Bogoslof & St. George – TBMU > COMU OCs: St. Lazaria – COMU = TBMU (except for HCB)

Organotin Compounds Murres sampled in 1999 Gulls sampled in 2005 Pelicans sampled in 2005 Common murre Little Diomede n=6 Common murre St. George I. n=6 East Amatuli I. St. Lazaria I. n=7 Glaucous gull Noatak n=5 Hooper Bay Glaucous-winged gull Togiak Sitka Brown pelican Charleston, SC n=2 Organotin Compounds MBT = monobutyltin DBT = dibutyltin TBT = tributyltin Chukchi Sea Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Atlantic

Temporal Trends?

Values are ng/g wet mass Bogoslof I. St. George I. + 266 1973-76 1999 2000 * Values are ng/g wet mass From: Ohlendorf et al. 1982 & Vander Pol et al. 2004

Summary - Murres For most OCs & Hg: Gulf of Alaska > Bering Sea (HCB shows a reverse pattern) OCs & Hg: Alaska murres £ murres from other parts of the northern hemisphere Differences in TBMU vs COMU vary by region Organotin: murres > gulls Too early to see temporal trends Difficult to compare to 1970s work of Ohlendorf, but contemporary murres generally have lower OCs, except for HCB

Future Analyses Based on recommendations resulting from the STAMP Long-Range Planning Workshop held at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitors Center, Homer, Alaska, February 2005

Improve temporal trends information St. Lazaria I. St. George I. Improve temporal trends information Thick-billed murres Common murres Gulf of Alaska Chukchi Sea Cape Lisburne Bering Sea

Establish baseline data on gulls St. Lazaria I. Viesokoi Rock Hooper Bay Gull I. Middleton I. Establish baseline data on gulls Noatak R. Delta Glaucous gulls Glaucous-winged gulls Safety Sound Penny R. Ualik Lake Kikertalik Lake Shaiak I.

Improve geographical trends information Cape Lisburne St. Lawrence I. Middleton I. 2002 Thick-billed murres East Amatuli I. St. Lazaria I. St. George I. 2003 Common murres Gulf of Alaska Thick-billed murres Common murres

Additional Analytes Hexabromochlorododecane (HBCD) – another BFR Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) – PFOS; PFOA, etc. Stable isotopes – trophic position Fatty acids– food web/prey selection differences

Acknowledgments Funding: USGS/BRD, USFWS, NIST, BIA, NPRB Partners and Collaborators: Point Hope IRA Council—Earl Kingik, Wildlife and Parks Director and Russel Lane, resident); Maniilaq Association—Enoch Schiedt and residents of Deering; Little Diomede Island residents; Kawerak Inc.—Austin Ahmasuk, Subsistence Director, and residents of Nome and Shaktoolik; St. Lawrence Island (Brandon Waghiyi and local residents); Paimiut Traditional Council—Albert Simon, Hooper Bay; Native Village of Mekoryuk—Marvin Kiokun, Natural Resources Director; Togiak Traditional Council—Francisca Kamkapak, Tribal Environmental Program Manager and Peter Lockuk Sr.; St. George Traditional Council—Anthony Merculieff, Executive Director, and Andy Malavansky, Island Sentinel; Sitka Tribe and Jack Lorrrigan, Tribal Fisheries Biologist; Loran Buck, Kodiak local biologist; Seldovia Tribe—Michael Opheim, Environmental Coordinator and Paul McCollum, Seldovia Tribe Environmental Program Consultant; Nick Tanape Sr., Traditional Ecological Knowledge Specialist, Nanwalek; Paul McCollum, Nanwalek IRA Council Environmental Program Consultant; University of Alaska; USGS/BRD; USFWS; BIA; ADF&G; Canadian Wildlife Service. Special Thanks to: Glenn Chen (BIA); Vern Byrd (USFWS); Tony DeGange (USGS-BRD); Michael Smolen, WWF; Lyman Thorsteinson (USGS-BRD); Minerals Management Service (MMS)