Metal contents in liver tissues of non-fledged goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, ducklings: a comparison between samples from acidic, circumneutral, and limed lakes in south Sweden.

The risk of increased exposure to metals for a vertebrate predator foraging on aquatic insects in acidified lakes was investigated through analyses of the content of Al, As, Ca, Cd, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Pb, Ru, Se, and Zn in the liver tissue of 42 non-fledged Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, ducklings from acidic, circumneutral, and limed lakes in South Sweden. No indications of significantly different concentrations in samples from acidic lakes in comparison with circumneutral lakes were detected for any metal, but among individual birds from acidic lakes there were high contents of Hg. Liming probably affects the exposure to some metals; lower contents of Hg were recorded from limed lakes in comparison with acidic lakes, while the reverse trend was recorded for Cd and Mn.