Trace metal variations in tissues of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) stranded along Southern North Sea coasts
During the last decade, recurrent epizootics have affected harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) populations in the North Sea. The trace metal levels of the harbour seal in the Southern North Sea are poorly known. In this study, trace metal concentrations (Zn, Cu, Fe, Cd, Hg and Se) were measured in tissues...
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ftorbi:oai:orbi.ulg.ac.be:2268/72648 2024-04-21T08:04:13+00:00 Trace metal variations in tissues of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) stranded along Southern North Sea coasts Drouguet, Olivier Jauniaux, Thierry Holsbeek, Ludo Reijnders, Peter Siebert, Ursula Das, Krishna 2004 https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/72648 en eng https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/72648 info:hdl:2268/72648 11th Benelux Congress of Zoology, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium [BE], 5-7th May 2004 marine mammals pollutants trace elements harbour seals Phoca vitulina Life sciences Aquatic sciences & oceanology Environmental sciences & ecology Sciences du vivant Sciences aquatiques & océanologie Sciences de l’environnement & écologie conference poster not in proceedings http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_18co info:eu-repo/semantics/conferencePoster 2004 ftorbi 2024-03-27T14:43:21Z During the last decade, recurrent epizootics have affected harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) populations in the North Sea. The trace metal levels of the harbour seal in the Southern North Sea are poorly known. In this study, trace metal concentrations (Zn, Cu, Fe, Cd, Hg and Se) were measured in tissues (liver, kidney and muscle) of 72 harbour seals collected along the coasts of France, Belgium and Netherlands between 1994 and 2004. Hg levels were significantly higher in seals from the Southern North Sea than in seals from Norwegian waters (1) probably due to the amount of anthropogenic inputs in the North Sea. Hepatic Hg was positively correlated to hepatic Se, both increasing with the length of the seals. Such a relationship reflects an age accumulation process coupled to a detoxication mechanism involving antagonism between Hg and Se in the liver. Increasing Zn and Hg hepatic levels were observed with degrading body condition of the harbour seals, which is reflected by decreasing blubber thickness and high hepatic to total body mass ratio. Body condition was particularly poor in seals which died from infectious diseases. These observations tend to indicate a global redistribution of trace metals from muscle and blubber to liver, as a result of protein and lipid catabolism linked to disease and starvation. Conference Object harbour seal Phoca vitulina University of Liège: ORBi (Open Repository and Bibliography) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Liège: ORBi (Open Repository and Bibliography) |
op_collection_id |
ftorbi |
language |
English |
topic |
marine mammals pollutants trace elements harbour seals Phoca vitulina Life sciences Aquatic sciences & oceanology Environmental sciences & ecology Sciences du vivant Sciences aquatiques & océanologie Sciences de l’environnement & écologie |
spellingShingle |
marine mammals pollutants trace elements harbour seals Phoca vitulina Life sciences Aquatic sciences & oceanology Environmental sciences & ecology Sciences du vivant Sciences aquatiques & océanologie Sciences de l’environnement & écologie Drouguet, Olivier Jauniaux, Thierry Holsbeek, Ludo Reijnders, Peter Siebert, Ursula Das, Krishna Trace metal variations in tissues of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) stranded along Southern North Sea coasts |
topic_facet |
marine mammals pollutants trace elements harbour seals Phoca vitulina Life sciences Aquatic sciences & oceanology Environmental sciences & ecology Sciences du vivant Sciences aquatiques & océanologie Sciences de l’environnement & écologie |
description |
During the last decade, recurrent epizootics have affected harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) populations in the North Sea. The trace metal levels of the harbour seal in the Southern North Sea are poorly known. In this study, trace metal concentrations (Zn, Cu, Fe, Cd, Hg and Se) were measured in tissues (liver, kidney and muscle) of 72 harbour seals collected along the coasts of France, Belgium and Netherlands between 1994 and 2004. Hg levels were significantly higher in seals from the Southern North Sea than in seals from Norwegian waters (1) probably due to the amount of anthropogenic inputs in the North Sea. Hepatic Hg was positively correlated to hepatic Se, both increasing with the length of the seals. Such a relationship reflects an age accumulation process coupled to a detoxication mechanism involving antagonism between Hg and Se in the liver. Increasing Zn and Hg hepatic levels were observed with degrading body condition of the harbour seals, which is reflected by decreasing blubber thickness and high hepatic to total body mass ratio. Body condition was particularly poor in seals which died from infectious diseases. These observations tend to indicate a global redistribution of trace metals from muscle and blubber to liver, as a result of protein and lipid catabolism linked to disease and starvation. |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Drouguet, Olivier Jauniaux, Thierry Holsbeek, Ludo Reijnders, Peter Siebert, Ursula Das, Krishna |
author_facet |
Drouguet, Olivier Jauniaux, Thierry Holsbeek, Ludo Reijnders, Peter Siebert, Ursula Das, Krishna |
author_sort |
Drouguet, Olivier |
title |
Trace metal variations in tissues of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) stranded along Southern North Sea coasts |
title_short |
Trace metal variations in tissues of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) stranded along Southern North Sea coasts |
title_full |
Trace metal variations in tissues of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) stranded along Southern North Sea coasts |
title_fullStr |
Trace metal variations in tissues of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) stranded along Southern North Sea coasts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Trace metal variations in tissues of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) stranded along Southern North Sea coasts |
title_sort |
trace metal variations in tissues of harbour seals (phoca vitulina) stranded along southern north sea coasts |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/72648 |
genre |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
op_source |
11th Benelux Congress of Zoology, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium [BE], 5-7th May 2004 |
op_relation |
https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/72648 info:hdl:2268/72648 |
_version_ |
1796943867684061184 |