Mercury dropping in polar bears
Scientists finds that mercury level in polar bears are dropping, as they are forced to switch to land-based food sources. (Foto: www.kewlwallpapers.com )
For polar bears pushed to shore as summer sea ice vanishes, there appears to be a side benefit — mercury levels are dropping as the animals switch to land-based food sources.
For polar bears pushed to shore as summer sea ice vanishes, there appears to be a side benefit — mercury levels are dropping as the animals switch to land-based food sources.
The newspaper The Alaska Dispatch News tells this story, based on a study, just published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
The study analyzing hairs of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, a population group hard hit by sea-ice melt, found steep declines in mercury, a metal contaminant that in the past was found in high concentrations in that population. Hair can provide a historical record of contaminants like mercury.