Bioaccumulation and metabolism of PCBs and DDE in Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris during its transequatorial migration and in the wintering and breeding grounds

• Main Authors: Tanaka,Hiroyuki, Ogi,Haruo, Tanabe,Shinsuke, Tatsukawa,Ryo, Oka,Nariko
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Research Institute of North Pacific Fisheries, Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University/Research Institute of North Pacific Fisheries, Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University/Department of Environment Conservation, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University/Department of Environment Conservation, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University/Yamashina Institute for Ornithology 1986
• Subjects: Pacific; Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research; Polar Research; Puffinus tenuirostris
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=1917; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00001917/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=1917&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

PCBs and p, p'-DDE in Short-tailed Shearwater (Puffinus tenuirostris) from Tasmania, Japan and the northern North Pacific were measured. The mean concentrations of PCBs and p, p'-DDE found in the bind from Tasmania were 14 and 20ng/g in chicks and 150 and 89ng/g in adults respectively, on wet weight basis. The values of both the chemicals were found to be lower in chicks than in adults, and the degree of disparity in chemical levels between chicks and adults is greater in PCBs than in p, p'-DDE. Reflecting this, the DDE/PCB ratios were higher in chicks (1.3) than in adults (0.60). This is likely due to the greater accumulation of PCBs during the period of stay in the northern North Pacific feeding ground than in the southern South Pacific ones. The shearwaters from Japan and the northern North Pacific seem to be post-fledgling or yearlings, since their DDE/PCB ratios (1.1 and 1.2) were found to be nearly the same as those in chicks (1.3) from Tasmania. It is known that two types of metabolic enzymes (PB and MC type) are mainly associated with the PCB metabolism in higher animals. When compared the PCB compositions in the shearwaters from Japan and Tasmania, some members of PCBs metabolized mainly by the MC type enzyme systems were found to decrease or disappear in the bird from Japan, indicating that the activity of the MC type enzyme systems in the shearwater increased more than that of the PB type enzyme systems during the transequatorial migration of the bird.