| Abstract
| - Migratory seabirds have been linked to localized “hot-spots” of contamination in remote Arctic lakes. One of theselakes is Lake Ellasjøen on Bjørnøya in the Barents Sea.Here we provide quantitative evidence demonstrating thateven relatively small populations of certain seabirdspecies can lead to major impacts for ecosystems. In thepresent example, seabird guano accounts for approximately14% of the contaminant inventory of the Lake Ellasjøencatchment area, approximately 80% of the contaminantinventory of the lake itself, and is approximately thirty timesmore efficient as a contaminant transport pathwaycompared to atmospheric long-range transport. We havefurther shown that this biological transport mechanism is animportant contaminant exposure route for ecosystems,responsible for POPs levels in freshwater fish that are anorder of magnitude higher than those in Arctic toppredators. Given the worldwide presence of seabirdcolonies in coastal marine areas where resources arealso harvested by humans, this biological transport pathwaymay be a greater source of dietary contamination thanis currently recognized with consequent risks for humanhealth.
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