According to BBC, albatross feathers have allowed scientists to construct a record of mercury pollution dating back more than 100 years. The study is published in Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences. The team analysed feathers from 54 birds kept in museums at Harvard University and the University of Washington in Seattle. There was no trend in overall mercury concentrations over time, but the level of methylmercury showed a rise!!
The chemical is easy to be absorbed by marine life-form such as fish, and predator can get the chemical from them. If much of the chemical are found in the predator, it indicates the fish around the area are polluted by the chemical.
About half of the mercury going into the atmosphere comes from natural sources such as volcanoes. Of the other half, the biggest sources is coal-burning, with mercury occurring as a trace element in many deposits.
Scientists do not have any direct evidence that levels of mercury were impacting their reproductive success. Therefore, it is expected that this study will answer such a question.
(Resource: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13121088)
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