| Summary: | Marine mammals accumulate alarming amounts of environmental pollutants and are thus the most contaminated group of animals in the world. Elevated pollutant exposure is of concern to marine mammals because of potential adverse effects on reproduction, endocrine disruption and immunity. In vitro techniques can be used to assess effects on specific health endpoints. To date, however, most studies focus on single compound exposures, rather than realistic complex mixtures, and little has been done to extrapolate molecular effects to higher levels of biological organization. The aim of my PhD was to use a unique combination of approaches, namely statistical meta-analyses, in vitro experimentation, analytical chemistry, and ecological modeling, to gain further insight into pollutant accumulation and effects at molecular and organism levels in North-Atlantic top predators.
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