Figure 2
From: Global deposition of potentially toxic metals via faecal material in seabird colonies
Seabird species excreting the highest amounts of toxic metals on a global scale relative to population size. The importance of seabird species in terms of Cd, Hg and Pb fluxes from marine to continental environments (breeding colonies) depends on various factors, such as population size, body weight, length of the breeding season and type of diet. The contributions of different species are very heterogeneous: penguins are the main contributors of the three toxic metals, mainly because of their large body mass (height: 70–130 cm; weight: 5–40 kg) and the long period of time that they remain in the colony (more than one year), whereas the contributions of smaller species, such as the common guillemot, northern fulmar, short-tailed shearwater and the thick-billed murre, are due to their large population sizes. The separate values for adults and chicks of the 5 species that contribute most of the global excretion of each metal are represented in Table S4.
