Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground
In waters off Península Valdés (PV), Argentina, southern right whales (SRW, Eubalaena australis) are occasionally exposed to domoic acid (DA), a neurotoxin produced by diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia. Domoic acid toxicity in marine mammals can cause gastrointestinal and neurological clinical s...
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Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/55939/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/55939/1/DAgostino_2022.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05078-4 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50242093-5cd7-4e60-be50-0f9323666a6b |
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:55939 2024-09-15T18:37:29+00:00 Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground D’Agostino, Valeria C. Fernández Ajó, Alejandro Degrati, Mariana Krock, Bernd Hunt, Kathleen E. Uhart, Marcela M. Buck, C. Loren 2022 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/55939/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/55939/1/DAgostino_2022.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05078-4 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50242093-5cd7-4e60-be50-0f9323666a6b unknown https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/55939/1/DAgostino_2022.pdf D’Agostino, V. C. , Fernández Ajó, A. , Degrati, M. , Krock, B. orcid:0000-0003-4022-9101 , Hunt, K. E. , Uhart, M. M. and Buck, C. L. (2022) Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground , Oecologia, 198 (1), pp. 21-34 . doi:10.1007/s00442-021-05078-4 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05078-4> , hdl:10013/epic.50242093-5cd7-4e60-be50-0f9323666a6b EPIC3Oecologia, 198(1), pp. 21-34, ISSN: 0029-8549 Article isiRev 2022 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05078-4 2024-06-24T04:28:46Z In waters off Península Valdés (PV), Argentina, southern right whales (SRW, Eubalaena australis) are occasionally exposed to domoic acid (DA), a neurotoxin produced by diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia. Domoic acid toxicity in marine mammals can cause gastrointestinal and neurological clinical signs, alterations in hematologic and endocrine variables, and can be fatal in extreme cases. In this study, we validated an enzyme immunoassay to quantify fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCm) in 16 SRW fecal samples from live and dead stranded whales in PV from 2013 to 2018 and assessed fGCm levels associated with DA exposure. Overall, fGCm levels were significantly lower in SRWs with detectable fecal DA (n = 3) as compared to SRWs with undetectable fecal DA levels (n = 13). The highest fecal DA was observed in a live lactating female, which had low fGCm compared to the other lactating females studied. The highest fGCm was observed in a lactating female with undetectable DA; interestingly, at the time of sample collection, this female was sighted with two calves, an extremely unusual occurrence in this species. Though the sample size of these exceptionally rare breeding-season fecal samples was unavoidably small, our study provides evidence of potential adrenal alterations in whales exposed to an environmental neurotoxin such as DA. Article in Journal/Newspaper Southern Right Whale Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Oecologia 198 1 21 34 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
op_collection_id |
ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
In waters off Península Valdés (PV), Argentina, southern right whales (SRW, Eubalaena australis) are occasionally exposed to domoic acid (DA), a neurotoxin produced by diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia. Domoic acid toxicity in marine mammals can cause gastrointestinal and neurological clinical signs, alterations in hematologic and endocrine variables, and can be fatal in extreme cases. In this study, we validated an enzyme immunoassay to quantify fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCm) in 16 SRW fecal samples from live and dead stranded whales in PV from 2013 to 2018 and assessed fGCm levels associated with DA exposure. Overall, fGCm levels were significantly lower in SRWs with detectable fecal DA (n = 3) as compared to SRWs with undetectable fecal DA levels (n = 13). The highest fecal DA was observed in a live lactating female, which had low fGCm compared to the other lactating females studied. The highest fGCm was observed in a lactating female with undetectable DA; interestingly, at the time of sample collection, this female was sighted with two calves, an extremely unusual occurrence in this species. Though the sample size of these exceptionally rare breeding-season fecal samples was unavoidably small, our study provides evidence of potential adrenal alterations in whales exposed to an environmental neurotoxin such as DA. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
D’Agostino, Valeria C. Fernández Ajó, Alejandro Degrati, Mariana Krock, Bernd Hunt, Kathleen E. Uhart, Marcela M. Buck, C. Loren |
spellingShingle |
D’Agostino, Valeria C. Fernández Ajó, Alejandro Degrati, Mariana Krock, Bernd Hunt, Kathleen E. Uhart, Marcela M. Buck, C. Loren Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground |
author_facet |
D’Agostino, Valeria C. Fernández Ajó, Alejandro Degrati, Mariana Krock, Bernd Hunt, Kathleen E. Uhart, Marcela M. Buck, C. Loren |
author_sort |
D’Agostino, Valeria C. |
title |
Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground |
title_short |
Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground |
title_full |
Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground |
title_fullStr |
Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground |
title_full_unstemmed |
Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground |
title_sort |
potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in southern right whale (eubalaena australis) at the península valdés breeding ground |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/55939/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/55939/1/DAgostino_2022.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05078-4 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50242093-5cd7-4e60-be50-0f9323666a6b |
genre |
Southern Right Whale |
genre_facet |
Southern Right Whale |
op_source |
EPIC3Oecologia, 198(1), pp. 21-34, ISSN: 0029-8549 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/55939/1/DAgostino_2022.pdf D’Agostino, V. C. , Fernández Ajó, A. , Degrati, M. , Krock, B. orcid:0000-0003-4022-9101 , Hunt, K. E. , Uhart, M. M. and Buck, C. L. (2022) Potential endocrine correlation with exposure to domoic acid in Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) at the Península Valdés breeding ground , Oecologia, 198 (1), pp. 21-34 . doi:10.1007/s00442-021-05078-4 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05078-4> , hdl:10013/epic.50242093-5cd7-4e60-be50-0f9323666a6b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05078-4 |
container_title |
Oecologia |
container_volume |
198 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
21 |
op_container_end_page |
34 |
_version_ |
1810481859548676096 |