• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.27 no.12
• /
• pp.1279-1290
• /
• 2018

Sea gulls are high trophic level consumers in the coastal environment, and thus, which have been widely used to monitor contamination biomagnified through a food web. However, such monitoring studies using sea gulls have been rare in the Korean literature. The National Environmental Specimen Bank chose eggs of a black-tailed gulls (Larus crassirostris) to serve as an environmental specimen for the long-term monitoring of the coastal ecosystem affected by terrestrial pollutants. Black-tailed gull eggs were collected from Baengnyeongdo, Hongdo and Uleungdo, and their DDTs and total mercury content were determined. The highest concentration of ${\Sigma}DDTs$ was $231.6{\pm}106.1{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Baengnyeongdo, followed by $230.0{\pm}123.8{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Ulleungdo, and $117.7{\pm}18.3{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Hongdo. In addition, total mercury was detected at $414.5{\pm}97.6{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Ulleungdo, $363.9{\pm}123.6{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Hongdo, and $237.5{\pm}42.3{\mu}g/kg$ wet in Baengnyeongdo. Relatively high concentrations of the target pollutants were recorded in specimens from Ulleungdo. Additional comprehensive and prolonged studies are required to elucidate spatial and temporal patterns of contamination in black-tailed gull eggs with regard to monitoring contaminant trends in eggs and prey.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.201-207
• /
• 2006

We studied variation in clutch size, hatching, fledging and breeding success of the Black-tailed Gull (larus crassirostris) at Hongdo Island, which supported the largest breeding colony of the species, in South Korea in 1997 and 2000 to 2003. Cluck size was recorded in 1,388 nests and breeding success was estimated in 83 nests. Mean clutch size was 1.89 t 0.65. A total of 63.9% of the eggs hatched and 53.5% of the chicks survived until fledged. Breeding success was 34.2%. Causes of breeding failure were eggs missing (14.9%), rotten eggs (15.5%) and predation (2.4%) during the incubation period and chicks missing(35.8%), starvation (7.4%) and pecked chicks (3.2%) during the chick rearing period. In 2002, the main causes of breeding failure were eggs missing (17.2%) and rotten eggs (6.9%) during the incubation period and missing chicks (15.5%), starvation (3.5%) and pecked chicks (6.9%) during the chick rearing period. Most chick mortality occurred within three days after hatching.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.365-369
• /
• 2002

We had 18 eggs artificially hatched in a mass breeding place of black-tailed gulls and examined the individual recognition between young siblings in a laboratory environment. The results of the experiment showed that the young gulls selectively responded to their siblings and non-siblings at an early stage after hatching. It was shown that they began to recognize the begging call among the voice signals of siblings and non-siblings 15-16 days after hatching, and the chirirah call 11-12 days after hatching. Also, more significant results were shown with the chirirah call than with the begging call. In an experiment of visual recognition between siblings and non-siblings, the young black-tailed gulls approached their siblings significantly 9-10 days after hatching. The recognition between young siblings in a mass breeding place provides an important evolutionary indicator in terms of their social behaviors.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.745-751
• /
• 2013

Environmental Specimen Banks (ESBs) have been established widely in the world since 1979 for monitoring long-term bio-accumulation of environmental pollutants. The ESBs perform the retrospective analysis of representative biological samples collected regularly and store them in cryogenic condition. In Korea, National Environmental Specimen Bank (NESB) was established in 2009. Since then, NESB had prepared the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the seven kinds of specimens (Red Pine (Pinus densiflora), Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio), and etc.) for monitoring the effect of environmental pollution on the terrestrial ecosystem and river ecosystem. In 2012, NESB added Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris)'s eggs to the list of the environmental specimen for monitoring marine environmental pollution. In this study, we sampled the eggs of the Black-tailed Gull on two islands (Baekryeongdo of the West Sea and Hongdo of the South Sea). Especially, we selected eggs which remained in the early stages of embryo development for certifying the consistent and stable monitoring for environmental pollutants in egg contents. However, it was not considered to classify an order of eggs per clutch in this study. It is known that the concentration variations of pollutants exist among eggs in one clutch. Therefore, it is needed to consider the positions of eggs in the laying sequences to meet the objective of bioaccumulation monitoring. We collected 30 eggs in each site but the amount may be insufficient to achieve storage target (over 2,000 g). Therefore, we need to consider an optimal sampling size.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.538-552
• /
• 2017

In this study, total mercury (THg) of Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris) eggs laid on Baengnyeongdo, West Sea of Korea was analyzed in order to compare the THg concentrations of eggs depending on egg-laying order. The first-laid eggs ($mean{\pm}standard$ error, $234.4{\pm}11.2ng/g\;wet$, n=18, t=8.4, p<0.01) significantly had higher THg concentrations than the second-laid eggs ($182.8{\pm}9.1ng/g\;wet$, n=18). Also, the first-laid eggs had higher values in biometrics (length $63.10{\pm}0.49mm$, t=2.4, p<0.05; width $44.51{\pm}0.19mm$, t=4.3, p<0.01; weight $65.53{\pm}0.87g$, t=4.2, p<0.01) than the second-laid eggs (length $62.37{\pm}0.40mm$, width $43.55{\pm}0.17mm$, and weight $62.48{\pm}0.72g$). These differences might be attributed to the amount of food eaten by females relating to males' courtship feeding pattern (males increase courtship feeding rate before the first eggs are laid, and decrease the rate following the laying of the first eggs). Moreover, the lower food intake of females could diminish the quantities of egg albumen that contains a protein binds to most of methylmercury during the period of egg production. Therefore, it is necessary to consistently apply one of egg selection methods (targeted selection (the first-laid egg or the second-laid egg), random selection, and etc.) in one nest for ensuring comparability of mercury concentrations among monitoring sites and monitoring years.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.27 no.12
• /
• pp.1271-1277
• /
• 2018

The National Environmental Specimen Bank (NESB) has been sampling and cryogenically preserving various wildlife specimens to monitor bio-accumulations of chemical pollutants since 2010. Recently, the NESB set up a plan to develop reference materials at their facility to assure the analytical quality of and validate the analytical methods for their monitoring samples. One of the crucial characteristics of reference materials is intra- and inter-bottle homogeneity. In this study, we used ANOVA for total mercury concentrations in some samples to validate their homogeneities after milling and homogenization. We examined the intra- and inter-bottle homogeneities of two cryogenically-milled samples (Korean mussel (Mytilus coruscus) and black-tailed gull's egg (Larus crassirostris). The variations in the total mercury concentrations were not significantly different intra- and inter-bottle (mussel: F=0.74, p=0.67; gull egg: F=1.96, p=0.10). Additionally, the relative standard deviations of the total mercury concentrations showed low values (mussel: 2.02%, gull egg: 1.78%). Therefore, the cryogenic-milling process statistically proves the homogeneity of the materials of mussels and sea gull eggs for chemical analysis for total mercury.