Contamination par les métaux lourds des oiseaux marins et des marsouins de la Mer du Nord = Heavy metal contamination of seabirds and porpoises in the North Sea

In the North Sea, the contamination level of Cd in porpoises, Zn and Cu in seabirds and Hg in both appear to be very high. The other studied metals (Cr, Ti, Fe, Pb) concentrations are comparable to literature. Seabirds and porpoises are located at top of the food chains, however their use as bioindicators of the contamination level of the ecosystem they are feeding on remains debatable. Actually many differences appear in both the contamination level and the storage and detoxification mechanisms from a species to another