Exposure of an endangered seabird species to persistent organic pollutants: Assessing levels in blood and link with reproductive parameters
Ocean contamination, particularly from persistent organic pollutants (POPs), remains a significant threat to marine predators that occupy high trophic positions. Long-lived procellariform seabirds are apex predators in marine ecosystems and tend to accumulate contaminants. Prolonged exposure to pollutants negatively affects their fitness including reproductive success. Low breeding success may represent a hurdle for the restoration of small and endangered seabird populations, including several highly threatened gadfly petrels. Here we investigated the annual variation (2019 and 2022) in organochlorine pesticide (OCP), polychlorinated biphenyl ether (PCB), polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure in the endangered Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow), and the relationship between female contaminant burden and breeding parameters. We found that petrels were exposed to a wide range of pollutants (33 out of 55 showed measurable levels) with PCBs dominating the blood contaminant profiles in both years. Only 9 compounds were detected in >50 % of the birds. Specifically, among OCPs, p, p'-DDE and hexaclorobenzene were the most frequently detected while fluorene and acenaphthene were the most common PAH. The concentrations of ∑5PCBs and ∑7POPs were higher in older birds. Furthermore, females with greater contaminant burdens laid eggs with a lower probability of hatching. However, female investment in egg production (size and volume) was unrelated to their blood contaminant load. Overall, this study highlights the presence of a wide range of contaminants in the petrel's food web, and it sheds light on the potential impact of chronic exposure to sub-lethal levels of PCBs on the breeding success of seabirds. We claim that toxicological testing should be a practice integrated in the management of seabirds, particularly of endangered species to monitor how past and present anthropogenic activities impact their conservation status.
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Elsevier
2024-04-26
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Subjects: | Pterodroma, Bioaccumulation, Hatching success, Organochlorines, PCB, Pesticide, Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/356702 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85191971404 |
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dig-idaea-es-10261-3567022024-05-20T20:35:49Z Exposure of an endangered seabird species to persistent organic pollutants: Assessing levels in blood and link with reproductive parameters Campioni, Letizia Oró-Nolla, Bernat Granadeiro, José P. Silva, Mónica C. Madeiros, Jeremy Gjerdrum, Carina Lacorte Bruguera, Silvia 0000-0002-6319-6931 0000-0002-5912-4732 0000-0002-7207-3474 0000-0003-2404-3964 0000-0002-4996-7074 0000-0001-7192-4057 Pterodroma Bioaccumulation Hatching success Organochlorines PCB Pesticide Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages Ocean contamination, particularly from persistent organic pollutants (POPs), remains a significant threat to marine predators that occupy high trophic positions. Long-lived procellariform seabirds are apex predators in marine ecosystems and tend to accumulate contaminants. Prolonged exposure to pollutants negatively affects their fitness including reproductive success. Low breeding success may represent a hurdle for the restoration of small and endangered seabird populations, including several highly threatened gadfly petrels. Here we investigated the annual variation (2019 and 2022) in organochlorine pesticide (OCP), polychlorinated biphenyl ether (PCB), polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure in the endangered Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow), and the relationship between female contaminant burden and breeding parameters. We found that petrels were exposed to a wide range of pollutants (33 out of 55 showed measurable levels) with PCBs dominating the blood contaminant profiles in both years. Only 9 compounds were detected in >50 % of the birds. Specifically, among OCPs, p, p'-DDE and hexaclorobenzene were the most frequently detected while fluorene and acenaphthene were the most common PAH. The concentrations of ∑5PCBs and ∑7POPs were higher in older birds. Furthermore, females with greater contaminant burdens laid eggs with a lower probability of hatching. However, female investment in egg production (size and volume) was unrelated to their blood contaminant load. Overall, this study highlights the presence of a wide range of contaminants in the petrel's food web, and it sheds light on the potential impact of chronic exposure to sub-lethal levels of PCBs on the breeding success of seabirds. We claim that toxicological testing should be a practice integrated in the management of seabirds, particularly of endangered species to monitor how past and present anthropogenic activities impact their conservation status. We are grateful to J-P Rouja, MP. Dias, M. Beal and F. Moniz for their valuable help in the field. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers who provided insightful comments that improved the manuscript. Funding: this work has been funded by the Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, project number 182520049 and Environment and Climate Change Canada. Thanks are due for the financial support through national funds to MARE (UIDB/04292/2020 and UIDP/04292/2020), CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020, UIDB/50017/2020, LA/P/0094/2020) and cE3c (UIDB/00329/2020, doi:10.54499/UIDB/00329/2020) by FCT, Portugal. Peer reviewed 2024-05-13T07:29:52Z 2024-05-13T07:29:52Z 2024-04-26 artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 Science of The Total Environment 930: 172814 (2024) 00489697 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/356702 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172814 38679096 2-s2.0-85191971404 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85191971404 en The Science of the total environment https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172814 Sí open Elsevier |
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Pterodroma Bioaccumulation Hatching success Organochlorines PCB Pesticide Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages Pterodroma Bioaccumulation Hatching success Organochlorines PCB Pesticide Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages |
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Pterodroma Bioaccumulation Hatching success Organochlorines PCB Pesticide Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages Pterodroma Bioaccumulation Hatching success Organochlorines PCB Pesticide Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages Campioni, Letizia Oró-Nolla, Bernat Granadeiro, José P. Silva, Mónica C. Madeiros, Jeremy Gjerdrum, Carina Lacorte Bruguera, Silvia Exposure of an endangered seabird species to persistent organic pollutants: Assessing levels in blood and link with reproductive parameters |
description |
Ocean contamination, particularly from persistent organic pollutants (POPs), remains a significant threat to marine predators that occupy high trophic positions. Long-lived procellariform seabirds are apex predators in marine ecosystems and tend to accumulate contaminants. Prolonged exposure to pollutants negatively affects their fitness including reproductive success. Low breeding success may represent a hurdle for the restoration of small and endangered seabird populations, including several highly threatened gadfly petrels. Here we investigated the annual variation (2019 and 2022) in organochlorine pesticide (OCP), polychlorinated biphenyl ether (PCB), polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure in the endangered Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow), and the relationship between female contaminant burden and breeding parameters. We found that petrels were exposed to a wide range of pollutants (33 out of 55 showed measurable levels) with PCBs dominating the blood contaminant profiles in both years. Only 9 compounds were detected in >50 % of the birds. Specifically, among OCPs, p, p'-DDE and hexaclorobenzene were the most frequently detected while fluorene and acenaphthene were the most common PAH. The concentrations of ∑5PCBs and ∑7POPs were higher in older birds. Furthermore, females with greater contaminant burdens laid eggs with a lower probability of hatching. However, female investment in egg production (size and volume) was unrelated to their blood contaminant load. Overall, this study highlights the presence of a wide range of contaminants in the petrel's food web, and it sheds light on the potential impact of chronic exposure to sub-lethal levels of PCBs on the breeding success of seabirds. We claim that toxicological testing should be a practice integrated in the management of seabirds, particularly of endangered species to monitor how past and present anthropogenic activities impact their conservation status. |
author2 |
0000-0002-6319-6931 |
author_facet |
0000-0002-6319-6931 Campioni, Letizia Oró-Nolla, Bernat Granadeiro, José P. Silva, Mónica C. Madeiros, Jeremy Gjerdrum, Carina Lacorte Bruguera, Silvia |
format |
artículo |
topic_facet |
Pterodroma Bioaccumulation Hatching success Organochlorines PCB Pesticide Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages |
author |
Campioni, Letizia Oró-Nolla, Bernat Granadeiro, José P. Silva, Mónica C. Madeiros, Jeremy Gjerdrum, Carina Lacorte Bruguera, Silvia |
author_sort |
Campioni, Letizia |
title |
Exposure of an endangered seabird species to persistent organic pollutants: Assessing levels in blood and link with reproductive parameters |
title_short |
Exposure of an endangered seabird species to persistent organic pollutants: Assessing levels in blood and link with reproductive parameters |
title_full |
Exposure of an endangered seabird species to persistent organic pollutants: Assessing levels in blood and link with reproductive parameters |
title_fullStr |
Exposure of an endangered seabird species to persistent organic pollutants: Assessing levels in blood and link with reproductive parameters |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exposure of an endangered seabird species to persistent organic pollutants: Assessing levels in blood and link with reproductive parameters |
title_sort |
exposure of an endangered seabird species to persistent organic pollutants: assessing levels in blood and link with reproductive parameters |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2024-04-26 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/356702 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85191971404 |
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