. The Canadian field-naturalist. Natural history. 2002 Notes 121 on seals (Phoca hispida, Erignathus barbatus, Phoca groenlandica, and Cystophora cristata [Kolenosky 1987]) which are typically high in heavy metal concentrations (Dietz et al. 1995). Prestrud et al. (1994) concluded that observed con- centrations of metals in Arctic Fox tissues in Norway were at levels which did not suggest significant anthropogenic contamination. They suggested that the cadmium and mercury concentrations they observed in Norwegian Arctic Foxes would not be expected to cause toxicological effects. Because lower
. The Canadian field-naturalist. Natural history. 2002 Notes 121 on seals (Phoca hispida, Erignathus barbatus, Phoca groenlandica, and Cystophora cristata [Kolenosky 1987]) which are typically high in heavy metal concentrations (Dietz et al. 1995). Prestrud et al. (1994) concluded that observed con- centrations of metals in Arctic Fox tissues in Norway were at levels which did not suggest significant anthropogenic contamination. They suggested that the cadmium and mercury concentrations they observed in Norwegian Arctic Foxes would not be expected to cause toxicological effects. Because lower concentra- tions of tissue metals were found in Arctic Foxes in the Prudhoe Bay area we would expect their conclu- sions to apply to our study area as well. Arctic Foxes in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska may rely more on food discarded by humans (Ballard et al. 2000) than Norwegian foxes. This could result in less bioaccumulation of heavy metals from human food than natural food sources. Prudhoe Bay Arctic Foxes, because of a more stable anthropogenic food source (Ballard et al. 2000), may remain inland dur- ing winter instead of scavenging on Polar Bear kills on sea ice. Also, long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants and natural sources of pollutants may con- tribute to the higher heavy metal concentrations found in Norwegian foxes. Our results suggest there has been no significant uptake of heavy metals by juvenile Arctic Foxes associated with oil drilling in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. However, 83% of our sample (25 of 30 foxes) was composed of juvenile foxes which may not have been alive long enough to accu- mulate higher levels of heavy metals. A larger sam- ple of adult foxes should be tested. Acknowledgments This study was funded by BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. with additional funding by ARCO Alaska, Inc. We thank Michelle Guilders for coordi- nation of the project. We also thank E. Follmann, D. Ritter, E. Arnold, L. E. Noel, and B. J. Pierson for technical and analytical support. W
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