A retrospective investigation of feather corticosterone in a highly contaminated white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) population
Abstract: Exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as organochlorines (OCs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), is associated with adverse health effects in wildlife. Many POPs have been banned and conse-quently their environmental concentrations have declined. To assess both t...
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ftunivantwerpen:c:irua:197448 2024-05-19T07:41:35+00:00 A retrospective investigation of feather corticosterone in a highly contaminated white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) population Hansen, Elisabeth Sun, Jiachen Helander, Bjorn Bustnes, Jan Ove Eulaers, Igor Jaspers, Veerle Covaci, Adrian Eens, Marcel Bourgeon, Sophie 2023 https://hdl.handle.net/10067/1974480151162165141 https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docstore/d:irua:18375 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/J.ENVRES.2023.115923 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isi/000985209900001 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess 0013-9351 Environmental research Chemistry Biology Human medicine info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2023 ftunivantwerpen https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVRES.2023.115923 2024-05-01T00:01:05Z Abstract: Exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as organochlorines (OCs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), is associated with adverse health effects in wildlife. Many POPs have been banned and conse-quently their environmental concentrations have declined. To assess both temporal trends of POPs and their detrimental impacts, raptors are extensively used as biomonitors due to their high food web position and high contaminant levels. White-tailed eagles (WTEs; Haliaeetus albicilla) in the Baltic ecosystem represent a sentinel species of environmental pollution, as they have suffered population declines due to reproductive failure caused by severe exposure to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) during the 1960s through 1980s. However, there is a lack of long-term studies that cover a wide range of environmental contaminants and their effects at the individual level. In this study, we used 135 pooled samples of shed body feathers collected in 1968-2012 from breeding WTE pairs in Sweden. Feathers constitute a temporal archive for substances incorporated into the feather during growth, including corticosterone, which is the primary avian glucocorticoid and a stress-associated hormone. Here, we analysed the WTE feather pools to investigate annual variations in feather corticosterone (fCORT), POPs (OCs and PBDEs), and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes (SIs; dietary proxies). We examined whether the expected fluctuations in POPs affected fCORT (8-94 pg. mm-1) in the WTE pairs. Despite clear temporal declining trends in POP concentrations (p < 0.01), we found no sig-nificant associations between fCORT and POPs or SIs (p > 0.05 in all cases). Our results do not support fCORT as a relevant biomarker of contaminant-mediated effects in WTEs despite studying a highly contaminated popu-lation. However, although not detecting a relationship between fCORT, POP contamination and diet, fCORT represents a non-destructive and retrospective assessment of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Haliaeetus albicilla White-tailed eagle IRUA - Institutional Repository van de Universiteit Antwerpen Environmental Research 228 115923 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IRUA - Institutional Repository van de Universiteit Antwerpen |
op_collection_id |
ftunivantwerpen |
language |
English |
topic |
Chemistry Biology Human medicine |
spellingShingle |
Chemistry Biology Human medicine Hansen, Elisabeth Sun, Jiachen Helander, Bjorn Bustnes, Jan Ove Eulaers, Igor Jaspers, Veerle Covaci, Adrian Eens, Marcel Bourgeon, Sophie A retrospective investigation of feather corticosterone in a highly contaminated white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) population |
topic_facet |
Chemistry Biology Human medicine |
description |
Abstract: Exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as organochlorines (OCs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), is associated with adverse health effects in wildlife. Many POPs have been banned and conse-quently their environmental concentrations have declined. To assess both temporal trends of POPs and their detrimental impacts, raptors are extensively used as biomonitors due to their high food web position and high contaminant levels. White-tailed eagles (WTEs; Haliaeetus albicilla) in the Baltic ecosystem represent a sentinel species of environmental pollution, as they have suffered population declines due to reproductive failure caused by severe exposure to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) during the 1960s through 1980s. However, there is a lack of long-term studies that cover a wide range of environmental contaminants and their effects at the individual level. In this study, we used 135 pooled samples of shed body feathers collected in 1968-2012 from breeding WTE pairs in Sweden. Feathers constitute a temporal archive for substances incorporated into the feather during growth, including corticosterone, which is the primary avian glucocorticoid and a stress-associated hormone. Here, we analysed the WTE feather pools to investigate annual variations in feather corticosterone (fCORT), POPs (OCs and PBDEs), and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes (SIs; dietary proxies). We examined whether the expected fluctuations in POPs affected fCORT (8-94 pg. mm-1) in the WTE pairs. Despite clear temporal declining trends in POP concentrations (p < 0.01), we found no sig-nificant associations between fCORT and POPs or SIs (p > 0.05 in all cases). Our results do not support fCORT as a relevant biomarker of contaminant-mediated effects in WTEs despite studying a highly contaminated popu-lation. However, although not detecting a relationship between fCORT, POP contamination and diet, fCORT represents a non-destructive and retrospective assessment of ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hansen, Elisabeth Sun, Jiachen Helander, Bjorn Bustnes, Jan Ove Eulaers, Igor Jaspers, Veerle Covaci, Adrian Eens, Marcel Bourgeon, Sophie |
author_facet |
Hansen, Elisabeth Sun, Jiachen Helander, Bjorn Bustnes, Jan Ove Eulaers, Igor Jaspers, Veerle Covaci, Adrian Eens, Marcel Bourgeon, Sophie |
author_sort |
Hansen, Elisabeth |
title |
A retrospective investigation of feather corticosterone in a highly contaminated white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) population |
title_short |
A retrospective investigation of feather corticosterone in a highly contaminated white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) population |
title_full |
A retrospective investigation of feather corticosterone in a highly contaminated white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) population |
title_fullStr |
A retrospective investigation of feather corticosterone in a highly contaminated white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) population |
title_full_unstemmed |
A retrospective investigation of feather corticosterone in a highly contaminated white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) population |
title_sort |
retrospective investigation of feather corticosterone in a highly contaminated white-tailed eagle (haliaeetus albicilla) population |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10067/1974480151162165141 https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docstore/d:irua:18375 |
genre |
Haliaeetus albicilla White-tailed eagle |
genre_facet |
Haliaeetus albicilla White-tailed eagle |
op_source |
0013-9351 Environmental research |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/J.ENVRES.2023.115923 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isi/000985209900001 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVRES.2023.115923 |
container_title |
Environmental Research |
container_volume |
228 |
container_start_page |
115923 |
_version_ |
1799481187857596416 |