A REVIEW OF ARCTIC TRACE-METAL DATA WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS

This paper reviews much of the existing data on trace metal distributi ons in the Arctic. Numerous papers giving sediment data are reviewed, including some not yet published, fewer papers were found giving data on organisms and still fewer were found containing dissolved trace met al data. None of the data examined suggests that trace metals might be affecting the health of Arctic organisms. Rather, the trace metal con centrations found in Arctic waters, sediments and organisms, with few exceptions, are similar to those found in temperate areas thought to b e largely free of pollutant levels of metals. Nevertheless, the existi ng data base for the Arctic is much smaller and more geographically re stricted than that for temperate and tropical regions and the sensitiv ity of Arctic organisms to pollutant metals is not well known, Monitor ing programs carefully designed to detect any influence of human activ ity on trace metal distributions in the Arctic should be initiated now (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.