Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding off Mozambique and Ecuador show geographic variation of persistent organic pollutants and isotopic niches
Abstract: Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from the Southern Hemisphere carry information on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from their feeding zones in Antarctica to their breeding grounds, making this species a sentinel of contaminants accumulation in the Southern Ocean. This study ai...
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ftunivantwerpen:c:irua:174423 2024-10-06T13:42:55+00:00 Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding off Mozambique and Ecuador show geographic variation of persistent organic pollutants and isotopic niches Remili, Anais Gallego, Pierre Pinzone, Marianna Castro, Cristina Jauniaux, Thierry Garigliany, Mutien-Marie Govindan, Malarvannan Covaci, Adrian Das, Krishna 2020 https://hdl.handle.net/10067/1744230151162165141 https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docstore/d:irua:4082 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2020.115575 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isi/000593967000016 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess 0269-7491 Environmental pollution Chemistry Biology info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2020 ftunivantwerpen https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2020.115575 2024-09-10T04:06:35Z Abstract: Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from the Southern Hemisphere carry information on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from their feeding zones in Antarctica to their breeding grounds, making this species a sentinel of contaminants accumulation in the Southern Ocean. This study aimed to evaluate driving factors, namely feeding areas, trophic level, and sex, affecting POP concentrations in the blubber of humpback whales breeding off Mozambique and off Ecuador. Biopsies of free-ranging humpback whales including blubber and skin were collected in 2014 and 2015 from Ecuador (n = 59) and in 2017 from Mozambique (n = 89). In both populations, HCB was the major contaminant followed by DDTs > CHLs > PCBs > HCHs > PBDEs. POP concentrations were significantly higher in males compared to females. HCB, DDTs, HCHs and PBDEs were significantly different between whales from the Mozambique population and the Ecuador population. Sex and feeding habits were important driving factors accounting for POP concentrations in Ecuador whales. The whales from our study had some of the lowest POP concentrations measured for humpback whales in the world. These whales fed predominantly on krill as reflected from the low delta C-13 and delta N-15 values measured in the skin. However, the isotopic niches of whales from Mozambique and Ecuador did not overlap indicating that the two populations are feeding in different areas of the Southern Ocean. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Megaptera novaeangliae Southern Ocean IRUA - Institutional Repository van de Universiteit Antwerpen Southern Ocean Environmental Pollution 267 115575 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IRUA - Institutional Repository van de Universiteit Antwerpen |
op_collection_id |
ftunivantwerpen |
language |
English |
topic |
Chemistry Biology |
spellingShingle |
Chemistry Biology Remili, Anais Gallego, Pierre Pinzone, Marianna Castro, Cristina Jauniaux, Thierry Garigliany, Mutien-Marie Govindan, Malarvannan Covaci, Adrian Das, Krishna Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding off Mozambique and Ecuador show geographic variation of persistent organic pollutants and isotopic niches |
topic_facet |
Chemistry Biology |
description |
Abstract: Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from the Southern Hemisphere carry information on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from their feeding zones in Antarctica to their breeding grounds, making this species a sentinel of contaminants accumulation in the Southern Ocean. This study aimed to evaluate driving factors, namely feeding areas, trophic level, and sex, affecting POP concentrations in the blubber of humpback whales breeding off Mozambique and off Ecuador. Biopsies of free-ranging humpback whales including blubber and skin were collected in 2014 and 2015 from Ecuador (n = 59) and in 2017 from Mozambique (n = 89). In both populations, HCB was the major contaminant followed by DDTs > CHLs > PCBs > HCHs > PBDEs. POP concentrations were significantly higher in males compared to females. HCB, DDTs, HCHs and PBDEs were significantly different between whales from the Mozambique population and the Ecuador population. Sex and feeding habits were important driving factors accounting for POP concentrations in Ecuador whales. The whales from our study had some of the lowest POP concentrations measured for humpback whales in the world. These whales fed predominantly on krill as reflected from the low delta C-13 and delta N-15 values measured in the skin. However, the isotopic niches of whales from Mozambique and Ecuador did not overlap indicating that the two populations are feeding in different areas of the Southern Ocean. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Remili, Anais Gallego, Pierre Pinzone, Marianna Castro, Cristina Jauniaux, Thierry Garigliany, Mutien-Marie Govindan, Malarvannan Covaci, Adrian Das, Krishna |
author_facet |
Remili, Anais Gallego, Pierre Pinzone, Marianna Castro, Cristina Jauniaux, Thierry Garigliany, Mutien-Marie Govindan, Malarvannan Covaci, Adrian Das, Krishna |
author_sort |
Remili, Anais |
title |
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding off Mozambique and Ecuador show geographic variation of persistent organic pollutants and isotopic niches |
title_short |
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding off Mozambique and Ecuador show geographic variation of persistent organic pollutants and isotopic niches |
title_full |
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding off Mozambique and Ecuador show geographic variation of persistent organic pollutants and isotopic niches |
title_fullStr |
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding off Mozambique and Ecuador show geographic variation of persistent organic pollutants and isotopic niches |
title_full_unstemmed |
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding off Mozambique and Ecuador show geographic variation of persistent organic pollutants and isotopic niches |
title_sort |
humpback whales (megaptera novaeangliae) breeding off mozambique and ecuador show geographic variation of persistent organic pollutants and isotopic niches |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10067/1744230151162165141 https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docstore/d:irua:4082 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Megaptera novaeangliae Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Megaptera novaeangliae Southern Ocean |
op_source |
0269-7491 Environmental pollution |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2020.115575 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isi/000593967000016 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2020.115575 |
container_title |
Environmental Pollution |
container_volume |
267 |
container_start_page |
115575 |
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1812177865977888768 |