The river runs through it: The Athabasca River delivers mercury to aquatic birds breeding far downstream.

ABSTRACT: This study examined factors contributing to temporal variability (2009-2017) in total mercury (THg) concentrations in aquatic bird eggs collected in the Peace-Athabasca Delta and Lake Athabasca in northern Alberta. Factors examined included year of egg collection, site of collection, bird species, bird diets, annual surface-mineable oil sands production, forest fires, and flow of the Athabasca River. Surface mining activities associated with Alberta's Athabasca oil sands are situated north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, adjacent to the northward-flowing Athabasca River. Previous studies have found that oil sands industrial operations release mercury into the local (within ~50 km) environment. An information-theoretic approach revealed that the best model for explaining egg THg levels included

SUBMITTER: Hebert CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6456287 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature