Metals and trace elements in tissues of common eiders (Somateria mollissima) from the Finnish archipelago

Abstract

We sampled Common Eiders ( Somateria mollissima ) at five locations near coastal Finland in 1997 and 1998 for evidence of exposure to arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, mercury, magnesium, molybdenum, lead, selenium, and zinc. Livers and kidneys were collected from adult males and females found dead and hunter-killed males, and livers were collected from ducklings. Two adult females, one of which had an ingested lead shot in its gizzard, were poisoned by lead. The concentration of metals and trace elements that we found in tissues of eiders, other than the two lead poisoned birds, were not high enough to have independently caused mortality.