Birds are considered as good bio-monitors and they can provide highly valuable data about the level of contamination in their habitat. During the design of biomonitoring studies one of the first issues after choosing species is the choice of biological material. Non-lethally collected samples have recently been gaining greater attention as they offer several ethical and practical advantages. However, not all sample matrices are...

Over the years, noticeable effort has been directed towards contaminant determination in multiple biotic samples collected from the inhabitants of the Arctic. Little consideration has been given to polar herbivores, however, especially those from the European parts of the Arctic. To provide a broader perspective, we aimed to decipher trace element concentration in hairs of the key species in the Arctic, namely the Svalbard reindeer...

Data on trace element bioavailability in the south-polar marine ecosystem is still scarce, compared to that relating to temperate zones. Seabirds can be used as indicators of ecosystem health and sentinels of environmental pollution, constituting a link between marine and terrestrial environments. Here, we analysed the concentration of 17 elements (with special emphasis on mercury, Hg) in feathers of adults and chicks of two pelagic...