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Crawford LM, Gelsleichter J, Newton AL, Hoopes LA, Lee CS, Fisher NS, Adams DH, Giraudo M, McElroy AE. Associations between total mercury, trace minerals, and blood health markers in Northwest Atlantic white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias). MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2023; 195:115533. [PMID: 37734227 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Revised: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023]
Abstract
The ecology and life-histories of white sharks make this species susceptible to mercury bioaccumulation; however, the health consequences of mercury exposure are understudied. We measured muscle and plasma total mercury (THg), health markers, and trace minerals in Northwest Atlantic white sharks. THg in muscle tissue averaged 10.0 mg/kg dry weight, while THg in blood plasma averaged 533 μg/L. THg levels in plasma and muscle were positively correlated with shark precaudal length (153-419 cm), and THg was bioaccumulated proportionally in muscle and plasma. Nine sharks had selenium:mercury molar ratios in blood plasma >1.0, indicating that for certain individuals the potential protective effects of the trace mineral were diminished, whereas excess selenium may have protected other individuals. No relationships between plasma THg and any trace minerals or health markers were identified. Thus, we found no evidence of negative effects of Hg bioaccumulation, even in sharks with very high THg.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa M Crawford
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
| | | | - Alisa L Newton
- OCEARCH, Park City, UT 84060, USA; ZooQuatic Laboratory, LLC, Baltimore, MD 21202, USA
| | - Lisa A Hoopes
- Department of Research and Conservation, Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, GA 30313, USA
| | - Cheng-Shiuan Lee
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Nicholas S Fisher
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | | | - Maeva Giraudo
- Laboratoire de Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Microbienne, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France
| | - Anne E McElroy
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
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Shipley ON, Matich P, Hussey NE, Brooks AML, Chapman D, Frisk MG, Guttridge AE, Guttridge TL, Howey LA, Kattan S, Madigan DJ, O'Shea O, Polunin NV, Power M, Smukall MJ, Schneider EVC, Shea BD, Talwar BS, Winchester M, Brooks EJ, Gallagher AJ. Energetic connectivity of diverse elasmobranch populations - implications for ecological resilience. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230262. [PMID: 37040803 PMCID: PMC10089721 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/08/2023] [Indexed: 04/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding the factors shaping patterns of ecological resilience is critical for mitigating the loss of global biodiversity. Throughout aquatic environments, highly mobile predators are thought to serve as important vectors of energy between ecosystems thereby promoting stability and resilience. However, the role these predators play in connecting food webs and promoting energy flow remains poorly understood in most contexts. Using carbon and nitrogen isotopes, we quantified the use of several prey resource pools (small oceanic forage, large oceanics, coral reef, and seagrass) by 17 species of elasmobranch fishes (n = 351 individuals) in The Bahamas to determine their functional diversity and roles as ecosystem links. We observed remarkable functional diversity across species and identified four major groups responsible for connecting discrete regions of the seascape. Elasmobranchs were responsible for promoting energetic connectivity between neritic, oceanic and deep-sea ecosystems. Our findings illustrate how mobile predators promote ecosystem connectivity, underscoring their functional significance and role in supporting ecological resilience. More broadly, strong predator conservation efforts in developing island nations, such as The Bahamas, are likely to yield ecological benefits that enhance the resilience of marine ecosystems to combat imminent threats such as habitat degradation and climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Nigel E. Hussey
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada
| | - Annabelle M. L. Brooks
- Cape Eleuthera Institute, Cape Eleuthera, Eleuthera, The Bahamas
- Oceanic Whitetip Shark Consortium, Ellicott City, MD, USA
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | | | - Michael G. Frisk
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | | | | | - Lucy A. Howey
- Oceanic Whitetip Shark Consortium, Ellicott City, MD, USA
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Sami Kattan
- Beneath The Waves, PO Box 126, Herndon, VA, USA
| | - Daniel J. Madigan
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada
| | - Owen O'Shea
- The Center for Ocean Research and Education (CORE), Gregory Town, Eleuthera, The Bahamas
| | - Nicholas V. Polunin
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
| | - Michael Power
- Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
| | | | | | - Brendan D. Shea
- Beneath The Waves, PO Box 126, Herndon, VA, USA
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
| | - Brendan S. Talwar
- Cape Eleuthera Institute, Cape Eleuthera, Eleuthera, The Bahamas
- Oceanic Whitetip Shark Consortium, Ellicott City, MD, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
| | | | - Edward J. Brooks
- Cape Eleuthera Institute, Cape Eleuthera, Eleuthera, The Bahamas
- Oceanic Whitetip Shark Consortium, Ellicott City, MD, USA
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Rodrigues ET, Coelho JP, Pereira E, Pardal MA. Are mercury levels in fishery products appropriate to ensure low risk to high fish-consumption populations? MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2023; 186:114464. [PMID: 36502771 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The main goal of the present study is to determine the sources of methylmercury (MeHg) for high fish-consumption populations with the Portuguese population as showcase, as Portugal is the EU country with the highest fish consumption per capita (2019: 59.91 kg year-1). Since limited information is available on the effective levels of mercury after culinary treatments, cooked and raw codfish (Gadus morhua), hake (Merluccius merluccius), octopus (Octopus vulgaris), horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) and sardine (Sardina pilchardus) were considered. The mercury concentration ranking Hake > Horse mackerel > Codfish > Octopus > Sardine was observed in all situations (cooked and raw samples) for both MeHg and total mercury (T-Hg). The gathered results reinforce the general assumption that the loss of moisture during cooking increases MeHg and T-Hg concentrations in fish, but the idea that MeHg in fish muscle tissue represents the bulk of T-Hg cannot be generalised, as our study determined a MeHg/T-Hg ratio of 0.43 for grilled sardines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elsa T Rodrigues
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal.
| | - João P Coelho
- Department of Biology and CESAM and ECOMARE, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
| | - Eduarda Pereira
- Department of Chemistry and CESAM/REQUIMTE, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
| | - Miguel A Pardal
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal.
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Cybulski JD, Skinner C, Wan Z, Wong CKM, Toonen RJ, Gaither MR, Soong K, Wyatt ASJ, Baker DM. Improving stable isotope assessments of inter- and intra-species variation in coral reef fish trophic strategies. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9221. [PMID: 36172294 PMCID: PMC9468908 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 07/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Fish have one of the highest occurrences of individual specialization in trophic strategies among Eukaryotes. Yet, few studies characterize this variation during trophic niche analysis, limiting our understanding of aquatic food web dynamics. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) with advanced Bayesian statistics is one way to incorporate this individual trophic variation when quantifying niche size. However, studies using SIA to investigate trophodynamics have mostly focused on species- or guild-level (i.e., assumed similar trophic strategy) analyses in settings where source isotopes are well-resolved. These parameters are uncommon in an ecological context. Here, we use Stable Isotope Bayesian Ellipses in R (SIBER) to investigate cross-guild trophodynamics of 11 reef fish species within an oceanic atoll. We compared two- (δ 15N and δ 13C) versus three-dimensional (δ 15N, δ 13C, and δ 34S) reconstructions of isotopic niche space for interpreting guild-, species-, and individual-level trophic strategies. Reef fish isotope compositions varied significantly among, but also within, guilds. Individuals of the same species did not cluster together based on their isotope values, suggesting within-species specializations. Furthermore, while two-dimensional isotopic niches helped differentiate reef fish resource use, niche overlap among species was exceptionally high. The addition of δ 34S and the generation of three-dimensional isotopic niches were needed to further characterize their isotopic niches and better evaluate potential trophic strategies. These data suggest that δ 34S may reveal fluctuations in resource availability, which are not detectable using only δ 15N and δ 13C. We recommend that researchers include δ 34S in future aquatic food web studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan D. Cybulski
- The Swire Institute of Marine ScienceThe University of Hong KongShek OHong Kong SAR
- School of Biological SciencesThe University of Hong KongPok Fu LamHong Kong SAR
| | - Christina Skinner
- Department of Ocean ScienceThe Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyClear Water BayHong Kong SAR
| | - Zhongyue Wan
- School of Biological SciencesThe University of Hong KongPok Fu LamHong Kong SAR
| | - Carmen K. M. Wong
- State Key Laboratory of Marine PollutionCity University of Hong KongKowloonHong Kong SAR
| | - Robert J. Toonen
- Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, School of Ocean & Earth Sciences & TechnologyUniversity of Hawai‘i at MānoaKaneoheHawaiiUSA
| | | | - Keryea Soong
- Department of OceanographyNational Sun Yat‐sen UniversityKaohsiungTaiwan
| | - Alex S. J. Wyatt
- Department of Ocean ScienceThe Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyClear Water BayHong Kong SAR
| | - David M. Baker
- The Swire Institute of Marine ScienceThe University of Hong KongShek OHong Kong SAR
- School of Biological SciencesThe University of Hong KongPok Fu LamHong Kong SAR
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Brownscombe JW, Shipley ON, Griffin LP, Morley D, Acosta A, Adams AJ, Boucek R, Danylchuk AJ, Cooke SJ, Power M. Application of telemetry and stable isotope analyses to inform the resource ecology and management of a marine fish. J Appl Ecol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.14123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Oliver N. Shipley
- Department of Biology University of New Mexico Albuquerque New Mexico USA
| | - Lucas P. Griffin
- Department of Environmental Conservation University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst MA USA
| | - Danielle Morley
- Department of Environmental Conservation University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst MA USA
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Florida USA
| | | | - Aaron J. Adams
- Bonefish and Tarpon Trust SW Florida USA
- Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Fort Pierce FL USA
| | | | - Andy J. Danylchuk
- Department of Environmental Conservation University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst MA USA
| | - Steven J. Cooke
- Department of Biology University of New Mexico Albuquerque New Mexico USA
| | - Michael Power
- Department of Biology University of Waterloo Waterloo Ontario Canada
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Shipley ON, Lee CS, Fisher NS, Sternlicht JK, Kattan S, Staaterman ER, Hammerschlag N, Gallagher AJ. Metal concentrations in coastal sharks from The Bahamas with a focus on the Caribbean Reef shark. Sci Rep 2021; 11:218. [PMID: 33420176 PMCID: PMC7794238 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-79973-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Over the last century anthropogenic activities have rapidly increased the influx of metals and metalloids entering the marine environment, which can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in marine top consumers. This may elicit sublethal effects on target organisms, having broad implications for human seafood consumers. We provide the first assessment of metal (Cd, Pb, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Ag, and THg) and metalloid (As) concentrations in the muscle tissue of coastal sharks from The Bahamas. A total of 36 individual sharks from six species were evaluated, spanning two regions/study areas, with a focus on the Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi), and to a lesser extent the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). This is due their high relative abundance and ecological significance throughout coastal Bahamian and regional ecosystems. Caribbean reef sharks exhibited some of the highest metal concentrations compared to five other species, and peaks in the concentrations of Pb, Cr, Cu were observed as individuals reached sexual maturity. Observations were attributed to foraging on larger, more piscivorous prey, high longevity, as well a potential slowing rate of growth. We observed correlations between some metals, which are challenging to interpret but may be attributed to trophic level and ambient metal conditions. Our results provide the first account of metal concentrations in Bahamian sharks, suggesting individuals exhibit high concentrations which may potentially cause sublethal effects. Finally, these findings underscore the potential toxicity of shark meat and have significant implications for human consumers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver N Shipley
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA.
| | - Cheng-Shiuan Lee
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
- New York State Center for Clean Water Technology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Nicholas S Fisher
- School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | | | - Sami Kattan
- Beneath the Waves, PO Box 126, Herndon, VA, USA
| | | | - Neil Hammerschlag
- Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 33149, USA
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Studying animal niches using bulk stable isotope ratios: an updated synthesis. Oecologia 2020; 193:27-51. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-020-04654-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Accepted: 04/11/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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