Marine ecosystem monitoring using seabirds as a tracer of food web and pollution

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We developed a new method to monitor marine pollution using the movement of seabirds and the pollutants in their tissues. We tracked more than 130 individuals of two species of shearwaters using bio-logging techniques. Persistent Organic Pollutant in preen gland oil varied among breeding individuals foraging in the different areas and the trends were different between PCBs, DDTs and HCHs. The mercury in feathers that were replaced in the wintering areas varied among birds wintering in different seas. These regional variations can be explained by the source and dispersion of these pollutants. This technique gives us the spatial pattern of marine pollution at the scale that is required for marine spatial planning.