The accumulative profiles of seabird and sea animal excrement together with the depositional sequences influenced by the excrement have been utilized to reconstruct the historical populations of Antarctic penguins and seals, also to study the eco-geology in the ice-free areas of Antarctica and Arctic. The historical populations of Antarctic penguins show dramatic fluctuations, the period of sharp decrease coincides well with Neoglaciation, and extremely cold or warm climate conditions are unfavorable for the survival of Antarctic penguin. The historical change of seal population seems to be related to climatic variations, sea-ice coverage and its forage behavior. The fluctuations of Hg (mercury) in the seal hairs and the sediments influenced by seal excrement were found to be closely associated with ancient gold and silver mining activities and the ancient civilization over the past several thousand years.
Calcium(Ca),phosphorus(P),and chitin are the main components of the exoskeleton of krill.Defluoridation of a solution of sodium fluoride(NaF) using calcium phosphate(Ca3(PO4)2) and chitin as defluoridation agents was studied.Orthogonal experiments were designed to find the optimum reaction conditions for defluoridation,to obtain the maximum defluoridation efficiency and fluoride removal capacity of calcium phosphate and chitin.At the same time,a comparison of the capacity of the two defluoridation agents was made.The results suggest that calcium phosphate has a far greater capability than chitin for the removal of fluoride(F) from water under similar reaction conditions.It is also suggested that Antarctic krill is likely to adsorb fluoride via compounds such as calcium phosphate,hydroxyapatite,and other compounds of Ca and P with the general form(Ca,X) x(PO4,HPO4,Y) y(OH,Z) z,in addition to chitin.
The molecular biomarker compositions of the ornithogenic sediments(YN),from Svalbard,Arctic were investigated.The results showed that n-alkanes had a bimodal pattern and their odd-even preference was not obvious.The alkanes contained unresolved complex mixtures(UCM) and relatively high levels of pristine and retene,indicating pollution from the nearby coal mines.The n-alkanols in the sediments had even-to-odd preference,and they might originate mainly from modern biota.Sistosterol,the main sterol in herbivores feces,was the dominant sterol,indicating that sitosterol might be a good biomarker of input from the birds feces in the sediments.The fatty acids of the sediments showed even-to-odd preference,and the main unsaturated fatty acid is C18:1 acid.The α-hydroxyl acids and ω-hydroxyl fatty acids were also detected in the sediments.In summary,the organic matters in the YN sediments were from the adjacent coal mines,bird feces,and plants.
