Abstract
Changes to Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) habitat and foraging behavior may affect exposure to both toxic and essential trace elements in walrus tissue. This study measured the trace element concentrations of silver (Ag), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), total (THg) and methyl mercury (MeHg), selenium (Se), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in walrus skeletal muscle sampled during 2009–2015. Females had significantly higher concentrations of THg (p = 0.021), MeHg (p = 0.037), Cd (p = 0.021), Cu (p = 0.003), and Se (p = 0.001) compared to males. Females with no calf had significantly higher concentrations of Cd compared to females with a calf (p = 0.001) and pregnant females and females with a calf had significantly lower Se concentrations compared to females with a yearling or no calf (p < 0.05). Bering Sea males had significantly higher Ni concentrations (p = 0.001) and significantly lower Se (p = 0.006) and Zn concentrations (p = 0.001) compared to other locations. THg, MeHg, and As tissue concentrations decreased with age (p < 0.01), suggesting these toxic elements are not accumulating in this tissue while Cd increased with age (p < 0.05). The narrower range in element concentrations among pregnant and nursing females may indicate less variation in prey species, and coupled with the reproductive needs for essential elements, suggests they may be more vulnerable to changes in prey availability compared to other walruses.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Alaska Native subsistence hunters of Gambell, Savoonga, Utqiaġvik, and Wainwright for making the tissue samples available and compiling the information on animal sex and female reproductive status. We thank the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management for coordinating with the Alaska Native communities and delivering the samples to Baylor University. We thank Lori Quakenbush with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for her editing and intellectual contributions to the paper. We thank the Baylor University Molecular Biosciences Center, Alejandro Ramirez, and the Baylor University Mass Spectrometry Center for equipment access and support. We finally thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
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This research was funded by a grant from the C. Gus Glasscock, Jr. Endowed Fund for Excellence in Environmental Sciences.
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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Acquisition of samples and coordination with Alaska Native subsistence hunters was performed by JS and LH. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by GG. The first draft of the manuscript was written by GG, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Funding was acquired by GG. The project was supervised by ST. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Samples were obtained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services in cooperation with Alaska Native subsistence hunters under a letter of authorization to L. Horstmann.
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Research involving opportunistically attained samples from subsistence harvests is exempt from Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approval at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Baylor University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee deemed approval unnecessary as the research did not involve live animals.
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Godfrey, G.L., Horstmann, L., Snyder, J. et al. Toxic and essential trace element concentrations in Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) skeletal muscle varies by location and reproductive status. Polar Biol 45, 1271–1289 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-022-03069-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-022-03069-6