Contaminant concentrations in Mackenzie Delta beluga

Monitoring contaminant concentrations in marine mammals is necessary to regulate consumption guidelines for the safety, health, and well-being of northern communities which practice subsistence hunts. Each year, thanks to the partnerships with Inuvialuit hunters, new beluga samples are collected and analyzed for contaminants, and over time the accumulated data offer increasingly powerful means to detect changes (e.g. temporal trends) and relate them to environmental variables. Such monitoring efforts are especially important in light of the accelerated warming in the Arctic and sub-arctic and what this influence this may have on contaminant exposure to marine organisms.监测海洋哺乳动物体内的污染物浓度，对于规范以传统生存捕猎为生的北部社区的食用安全指南、保障其生命健康与生活福祉而言至关重要。每年，得益于与伊努维亚特（Inuvialuit）猎手的合作，研究团队都会采集全新的白鲸样本并开展污染物分析；随着时间推移，累积的数据集逐步具备了更强的能力以检测污染物水平的变化（例如时间趋势），并将其与各类环境变量建立关联。鉴于北极与亚北极地区的变暖速度不断加快，以及这一气候变化可能对海洋生物的污染物暴露水平产生的影响，此类监测工作显得尤为关键。