(Table 1) Concentrations of persistant organic pollutants in brain and liver of glaucous gulls, Bjørnøya, Svalbard archipelago

DOI

Dead and dying glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus) were collected on Bjornoya in the Barents Sea in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Autopsies of the seabirds only explained a clear cause of death for three (14%) of the 21 birds. A total of 71% of the birds were emaciated. Liver and brain samples were analysed for organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDEs), hexabromo-cyclododecanes (HBCDs) and mercury (Hg). High levels of OCPs, PCBs, PBDEs and alpha-HBCD were found in liver and brain. Compared to the dead and dying glaucous gulls found 1989, the congeners' composition tended to change toward more persistent compounds in the 2003-2005 samples. The brain levels of OCPs and PCBs did not differ between 1989 and 2003-2005, while the liver levels were significantly lower. The brain/liver ratio for PCB and PBDE significantly decreased with halogenations of the molecule, indicating a clear discrimination of highly halogenated PCBs and PBDEs entering the brain. There was further a clear negative correlation between contaminant concentrations and body condition. The brain levels were not as high as earlier published lethal levels of p,p'-DDE or PCB. However, more recent studies reported a range of sub-lethal OCP- and PCB-related effects in randomly sampled glaucous gulls. An additional elevation of pollutants due to emaciation may increase the stress of the already affected birds. The high brain levels of OCP, PCB and PBDE of present study might therefore have contributed to the death of weakened individuals of glaucous gull.

Concentrations are given per gram lipid weight. Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150

Supplement to: Sagerup, Kjetil; Helgason, Lisa Bjørnsdatter; Polder, Anuschka; Strøm, Hallvard; Josefsen, Terje D; Skaare, Janneche Utne; Gabrielsen, Geir W (2009): Persistent organic pollutants and mercury in dead and dying glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus) at Bjornoya (Svalbard). Science of the Total Environment, 407(23), 6009-6016

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.786530
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.08.020
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.786530
Provenance
Creator Sagerup, Kjetil; Helgason, Lisa Bjørnsdatter; Polder, Anuschka; Strøm, Hallvard; Josefsen, Terje D ORCID logo; Skaare, Janneche Utne; Gabrielsen, Geir W
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2009
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Supplementary Dataset; Dataset
Format text/tab-separated-values
Size 363 data points
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (19.030 LON, 74.360 LAT); Bjørnøya, Svalbard archipelago, Norway