Mercury in Songbirds P2

Songbirds have a varied diet, and there are many components which contribute to the levels of mercury in their bodies. What the results of this study tell us is that by volume, arachnids contribute a much larger amount of mercury to these songbirds than any other food source. There could be multiple reasons for these elevated levels of mercury, such as the spiders themselves eating insects that incidentally contain high levels of mercury, or it could be that these spiders use elevated levels of mercury in their bodies. Whatever the case is, these arachnids contribute much more mercury, even in absolute terms, than the moths and butterflies that make up more of the songbirds diet.