Preying on seals pushes killer whales from Norway above pollution effects thresholds
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are at risk from high levels of biomagnifying pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury (Hg). Previous toxicological risk assessments for the Norwegian killer whale population have assumed fish as the primary prey source, and assessed the populatio...
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ftnorskinstvf:oai:niva.brage.unit.no:11250/2672637 2023-05-15T17:03:30+02:00 Preying on seals pushes killer whales from Norway above pollution effects thresholds Andvik, Clare Jourdain, Eve Ruus, Anders Lyche, Jan Ludvig Karoliussen, Richard Borgå, Katrine 2020 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2672637 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68659-y eng eng Nature Scientific Reports. 2020, 10, 11888. urn:issn:2045-2322 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2672637 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68659-y cristin:1822492 Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no CC-BY 10 Scientific Reports Peer reviewed Journal article 2020 ftnorskinstvf https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68659-y 2023-02-21T08:45:13Z Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are at risk from high levels of biomagnifying pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury (Hg). Previous toxicological risk assessments for the Norwegian killer whale population have assumed fish as the primary prey source, and assessed the population as below established effect thresholds. However, some individuals have recently been identified to also feed on seals. This study is the first to quantify levels of pollutants in seal-eating killer whales from northern Norway, and to measure Hg levels in the skin of killer whales worldwide. We found higher levels of all pollutants in seal-eating than fish-eating killer whales, including the emerging brominated flame retardants pentabromoethylbenzene (PBEB), pentabromotoluene (PBT) and hexabromobenzene (HBB). Sum polychlorinated biphenyls (ΣPCBs) in the blubber of seal-eaters (n = 7, geometric mean = 46 µg/g l.w.) were four times higher than fish-eaters (n = 24, geometric mean = 11 µg/g l.w.), which pushed all seal-eating individuals above multiple thresholds for health effects. Total Hg levels in skin of seal-eaters (n = 10, arithmetic mean = 3.7 µg/g d.w.) were twice as high as in fish-eaters (n = 28, arithmetic mean = 1.8 µg/g d.w.). Our results indicate that by feeding on higher trophic prey, the Norwegian killer whale population is at higher risk of health effects from pollution than previously assumed. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Killer Whale Northern Norway Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale Norwegian Institute for Water research: NIVA Open Access Archive (Brage) Norway Scientific Reports 10 1 |
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Norwegian Institute for Water research: NIVA Open Access Archive (Brage) |
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ftnorskinstvf |
language |
English |
description |
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are at risk from high levels of biomagnifying pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury (Hg). Previous toxicological risk assessments for the Norwegian killer whale population have assumed fish as the primary prey source, and assessed the population as below established effect thresholds. However, some individuals have recently been identified to also feed on seals. This study is the first to quantify levels of pollutants in seal-eating killer whales from northern Norway, and to measure Hg levels in the skin of killer whales worldwide. We found higher levels of all pollutants in seal-eating than fish-eating killer whales, including the emerging brominated flame retardants pentabromoethylbenzene (PBEB), pentabromotoluene (PBT) and hexabromobenzene (HBB). Sum polychlorinated biphenyls (ΣPCBs) in the blubber of seal-eaters (n = 7, geometric mean = 46 µg/g l.w.) were four times higher than fish-eaters (n = 24, geometric mean = 11 µg/g l.w.), which pushed all seal-eating individuals above multiple thresholds for health effects. Total Hg levels in skin of seal-eaters (n = 10, arithmetic mean = 3.7 µg/g d.w.) were twice as high as in fish-eaters (n = 28, arithmetic mean = 1.8 µg/g d.w.). Our results indicate that by feeding on higher trophic prey, the Norwegian killer whale population is at higher risk of health effects from pollution than previously assumed. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Andvik, Clare Jourdain, Eve Ruus, Anders Lyche, Jan Ludvig Karoliussen, Richard Borgå, Katrine |
spellingShingle |
Andvik, Clare Jourdain, Eve Ruus, Anders Lyche, Jan Ludvig Karoliussen, Richard Borgå, Katrine Preying on seals pushes killer whales from Norway above pollution effects thresholds |
author_facet |
Andvik, Clare Jourdain, Eve Ruus, Anders Lyche, Jan Ludvig Karoliussen, Richard Borgå, Katrine |
author_sort |
Andvik, Clare |
title |
Preying on seals pushes killer whales from Norway above pollution effects thresholds |
title_short |
Preying on seals pushes killer whales from Norway above pollution effects thresholds |
title_full |
Preying on seals pushes killer whales from Norway above pollution effects thresholds |
title_fullStr |
Preying on seals pushes killer whales from Norway above pollution effects thresholds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Preying on seals pushes killer whales from Norway above pollution effects thresholds |
title_sort |
preying on seals pushes killer whales from norway above pollution effects thresholds |
publisher |
Nature |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2672637 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68659-y |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Killer Whale Northern Norway Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
genre_facet |
Killer Whale Northern Norway Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
op_source |
10 Scientific Reports |
op_relation |
Scientific Reports. 2020, 10, 11888. urn:issn:2045-2322 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2672637 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68659-y cristin:1822492 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68659-y |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766057390761836544 |