Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic
Polar bear and toothed whales in the Arctic exhibit orders of magnitude differences in concentrations of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which may be attributed to comparisons made across regions and different time frames. These interspecific differences could also be influenced by vari...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2024
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Online Access: | https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/24e3ef26-7222-4daa-b2ce-435e7893c0c5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168158 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175419839&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
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ftuniaarhuspubl:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/24e3ef26-7222-4daa-b2ce-435e7893c0c5 2024-04-28T08:04:37+00:00 Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic Pedersen, Adam F. Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian Letcher, Robert J. Roos, Anna M. Simon, Malene Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu Ferguson, Steven H. McKinney, Melissa A. 2024-01 https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/24e3ef26-7222-4daa-b2ce-435e7893c0c5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168158 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175419839&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/24e3ef26-7222-4daa-b2ce-435e7893c0c5 info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Pedersen , A F , Dietz , R , Sonne , C , Letcher , R J , Roos , A M , Simon , M , Rosing-Asvid , A , Ferguson , S H & McKinney , M A 2024 , ' Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic ' , Science of the total Environment , vol. 908 , 168158 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168158 Fatty acids Killer whale Long-finned pilot whale Narwhal Polar bear POPs pop's article 2024 ftuniaarhuspubl https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168158 2024-04-10T23:49:23Z Polar bear and toothed whales in the Arctic exhibit orders of magnitude differences in concentrations of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which may be attributed to comparisons made across regions and different time frames. These interspecific differences could also be influenced by variations in biological susceptibility, including differences in xenobiotic biotransformation between polar bear, from the order Carnivora, and toothed whales, from the order Artiodactyla, as well as ecological factors, such as variation in feeding patterns. Here, we analyzed samples from subsistence-harvested toothed whales and polar bear in East Greenland collected between 2012 and 2021 and quantitatively compared interspecific differences in blubber/adipose polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and organochlorine (OC) pesticide concentrations. We further determined fatty acid (FA) signatures as dietary tracers to evaluate how feeding patterns influence POP concentrations relative to the influence of biological differences between taxa. Killer whale exhibited the highest mean concentrations of ΣPCBs (57.0 ± 14.0 mg/kg lw), Σdichlorodiphentlytrichloroethanes (ΣDDTs; 55.7 ± 13.1 lw), and Σchlordanes (ΣCHLs; 23.1 ± 5.6 mg/kg lw), while polar bear showed the second highest concentrations for ΣPCBs (12.5 ± 1.3 mg/kg lw), but comparable or even lower levels of all OCs relative to narwhal and pilot whale. Linear models using FA patterns as explanatory variables for POP concentrations demonstrated that, for ΣPCBs, diet differences explained most of the variation. Conversely, biological differences explained more of the variation for most OCs, especially for DDT, for which polar bear showed the lowest concentrations despite feeding on similarly high trophic position prey as killer whale. This novel quantitative comparison confirms that significant differences in legacy POP concentrations occur among Arctic marine mammal predators. Furthermore, the drivers of these differences are contaminant-specific, with feeding patterns primarily ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic East Greenland Greenland Killer Whale narwhal* toothed whales Killer whale Aarhus University: Research Science of The Total Environment 908 168158 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Aarhus University: Research |
op_collection_id |
ftuniaarhuspubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Fatty acids Killer whale Long-finned pilot whale Narwhal Polar bear POPs pop's |
spellingShingle |
Fatty acids Killer whale Long-finned pilot whale Narwhal Polar bear POPs pop's Pedersen, Adam F. Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian Letcher, Robert J. Roos, Anna M. Simon, Malene Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu Ferguson, Steven H. McKinney, Melissa A. Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic |
topic_facet |
Fatty acids Killer whale Long-finned pilot whale Narwhal Polar bear POPs pop's |
description |
Polar bear and toothed whales in the Arctic exhibit orders of magnitude differences in concentrations of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which may be attributed to comparisons made across regions and different time frames. These interspecific differences could also be influenced by variations in biological susceptibility, including differences in xenobiotic biotransformation between polar bear, from the order Carnivora, and toothed whales, from the order Artiodactyla, as well as ecological factors, such as variation in feeding patterns. Here, we analyzed samples from subsistence-harvested toothed whales and polar bear in East Greenland collected between 2012 and 2021 and quantitatively compared interspecific differences in blubber/adipose polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and organochlorine (OC) pesticide concentrations. We further determined fatty acid (FA) signatures as dietary tracers to evaluate how feeding patterns influence POP concentrations relative to the influence of biological differences between taxa. Killer whale exhibited the highest mean concentrations of ΣPCBs (57.0 ± 14.0 mg/kg lw), Σdichlorodiphentlytrichloroethanes (ΣDDTs; 55.7 ± 13.1 lw), and Σchlordanes (ΣCHLs; 23.1 ± 5.6 mg/kg lw), while polar bear showed the second highest concentrations for ΣPCBs (12.5 ± 1.3 mg/kg lw), but comparable or even lower levels of all OCs relative to narwhal and pilot whale. Linear models using FA patterns as explanatory variables for POP concentrations demonstrated that, for ΣPCBs, diet differences explained most of the variation. Conversely, biological differences explained more of the variation for most OCs, especially for DDT, for which polar bear showed the lowest concentrations despite feeding on similarly high trophic position prey as killer whale. This novel quantitative comparison confirms that significant differences in legacy POP concentrations occur among Arctic marine mammal predators. Furthermore, the drivers of these differences are contaminant-specific, with feeding patterns primarily ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pedersen, Adam F. Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian Letcher, Robert J. Roos, Anna M. Simon, Malene Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu Ferguson, Steven H. McKinney, Melissa A. |
author_facet |
Pedersen, Adam F. Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian Letcher, Robert J. Roos, Anna M. Simon, Malene Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu Ferguson, Steven H. McKinney, Melissa A. |
author_sort |
Pedersen, Adam F. |
title |
Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic |
title_short |
Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic |
title_full |
Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic |
title_sort |
feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the arctic |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/24e3ef26-7222-4daa-b2ce-435e7893c0c5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168158 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175419839&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
genre |
Arctic Arctic East Greenland Greenland Killer Whale narwhal* toothed whales Killer whale |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic East Greenland Greenland Killer Whale narwhal* toothed whales Killer whale |
op_source |
Pedersen , A F , Dietz , R , Sonne , C , Letcher , R J , Roos , A M , Simon , M , Rosing-Asvid , A , Ferguson , S H & McKinney , M A 2024 , ' Feeding and biological differences induce wide variation in legacy persistent organic pollutant concentrations among toothed whales and polar bear in the Arctic ' , Science of the total Environment , vol. 908 , 168158 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168158 |
op_relation |
https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/24e3ef26-7222-4daa-b2ce-435e7893c0c5 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168158 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
908 |
container_start_page |
168158 |
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1797575175456161792 |