The ApocaDocs Logo: the Deaths-head Jester

About:
[The Project]
[The ApocaDocs]
[Equal Share]
The Six Scenarios:
[Species Collapse]
[Infectious Disease]
[Climate Chaos]
[Resource Depletion]
[Biology Breach]
[Recovery]
Explore:

Play:

It's weekly, funny, and free!

SEARCH

More than 6,000 stories!

A great gift
for crisis deniers!


The ApocaDocs have a Book!
Humoring the Horror of the
Converging Emergencies
94 color pages
$24.99 now $15!
Or read FREE online!




Twitter




Ping this story
in social media:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
NowPublic
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon

Posted Mon Jun 13 2011: from PNAS, via EnvironmentalResearchWeb:
Mercury rising in endangered Pacific seabirds http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1307970905
Using 120 years of feathers from natural history museums in the US, Harvard University researchers have been able to track increases in the neurotoxin methylmercury in the black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes), an endangered seabird that forages extensively throughout the Pacific. The study shows that the observed increase in methylmercury levels, most likely from human-generated emissions, can be observed and tracked over broad time periods in organisms that live in the Pacific Ocean.... "Given both the high levels of methylmercury that we measured in our most recent samples and regional levels of emissions, mercury bioaccumulation and toxicity may undermine reproductive effort in this species and other long-lived, endangered seabirds."... "Methylmercury has no benefit to animal life and we are starting to find high levels in endangered and sensitive species across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, indicating that mercury pollution and its subsequent chemical reactions in the environment may be important factors in species population declines," says study co-author Michael Bank of Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).
[Read more stories about: albatross, heavy metals, toxic buildup, koyaanisqatsi]
This item will appear in our PANIQuiz!

New!:
No reader quips yet -- be the first!

Got a PaniQuip?

Your Quip (limit 140 characters, no links, just wit):

First name:

The text shown in the Web image to the right:


We reserve the right to reuse, remove, or refuse any entry.

'Doc Jim says:
What do feathers have to do with my thermometer?

NEXT>
More stories:
  • Dead Sea threatened both by shrinking and flooding
  • Apples top most pesticide-contaminated list
  • (Mercury rising in endangered Pacific seabirds)
  • Manitoba flooding linked to climate change: officials
  • More than 600 sickened by lead poisoning in China

  • Want to explore more?
    Try the PaniCloud!
    Copyright 2010 The Apocadocs.com