Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège, Vol. 61, 1-2, 1992, pp. 163-176
CONTAMINATION PAR LES METAUX LOURDS
DES OISEAUX MARINS ET DES MARSOUINS
DE LA MER DU NORD
Nathalie ANTOINE 1, Isabelle JANSEGERSI, Ludo HOLSBEEK2,
Claude JOIRIS 2 et Jean-Marie BOUQUEGNEAUI
1 Océanologie, Universit6 de Liège, Sart Tilrnan B6, B-4000 Liège, Belgique
2 Laboratory for Ecotoxicology, Free University of Brussels (VUB)
Pleinlaan, 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
HEA VY METAL CONTAMINATION OF SEABIRDS AND
PORPOISES IN THE NORTH SEA
AB SIR ACT
In the North Sea, the contamination leve! of Cd in porpoises, Zn and Cu in
seabirds and Hg in both appear to be very high. The other studied metals (Cr, Ti, Fe,
Pb) concentrations are comparable to literature.
Seabirds and porpoises are located at top of the food chains, however their use as
bioindicators of the contamination level of the ecosystem they are feeding on remains
debatable. Actually many differences appear in both the contamination level and the
storage and detoxification mechanisms from a ~pecies to another.
Mots-clés.: Marsouins, oiseaux marins, métaux lourds, détoxification.
Keywords.: Porpoises, seabirds, heavy metals, detoxification.
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