The Preen Gland - an Organ for Excretion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) constitute a chemically diverse group of lipophilic substances that may accumulate in living organisms, often with harmful effects. To some extent these substances may be expelled via the liver functions. The preen gland is an organ in most birds that produces a...
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Language: | English |
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The University of Bergen
2010
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:1956/4112 2023-05-15T15:17:55+02:00 The Preen Gland - an Organ for Excretion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) Solheim, Silje Aakre 2010-06-01 3261126 bytes application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1956/4112 eng eng The University of Bergen https://hdl.handle.net/1956/4112 The author Copyright the author. All rights reserved POPs Kittiwake Preen gland Feathers The Arctic 751999 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Basale biofag: 470 Master thesis 2010 ftunivbergen 2023-03-14T17:41:11Z Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) constitute a chemically diverse group of lipophilic substances that may accumulate in living organisms, often with harmful effects. To some extent these substances may be expelled via the liver functions. The preen gland is an organ in most birds that produces a lipid-based secrete which is applied to the bird's feathers by preening. The preen gland may thus be an alternative way for birds to excrete POPs. Furthermore, if the preen oil applied to the feathers contain POPs, traceable amounts of the pollutants might be left on the feathers. Sampling of feathers may therefore be a non-destructive alternative for monitoring POPs in birds. During the breeding season 2009, 24 black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla were sampled in a colony near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard in order to analyse feather, liver and preen gland samples for POPs. In addition liver and preen gland samples from 12 kittiwakes were analysed for lipid class composition. Kittiwake feathers were found to be contaminated by POPs and the POP profiles in feather and preen gland were found to be more similar than the feather and liver profiles. This indicates a transfer of POPs from the preen gland to the feathers. High levels of contaminants were measured in the preen gland. This creates a basis for the kittiwake to excrete POPs through the preen gland. Similar to liver, the POP concentrations in the preen gland increased from the incubation- to the chick rearing period. This could give the kittiwake an even greater opportunity to excrete POPs in energy demanding periods where POPs are most concentrated. However, a trend for lower feather contamination in chick rearing- compared to incubation period, may indicate lower preen oil production and thereby no increase in the excretion of POPs in energy demanding periods. Despite a very different lipid composition in liver and preen gland samples, only small magnitude differences appeared in the POP profiles and there seem to be no severe restrictions to which POPs could ... Master Thesis Arctic Black-legged Kittiwake Ny Ålesund Ny-Ålesund rissa tridactyla Svalbard University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Arctic Ny-Ålesund Svalbard |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
topic |
POPs Kittiwake Preen gland Feathers The Arctic 751999 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Basale biofag: 470 |
spellingShingle |
POPs Kittiwake Preen gland Feathers The Arctic 751999 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Basale biofag: 470 Solheim, Silje Aakre The Preen Gland - an Organ for Excretion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) |
topic_facet |
POPs Kittiwake Preen gland Feathers The Arctic 751999 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Basale biofag: 470 |
description |
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) constitute a chemically diverse group of lipophilic substances that may accumulate in living organisms, often with harmful effects. To some extent these substances may be expelled via the liver functions. The preen gland is an organ in most birds that produces a lipid-based secrete which is applied to the bird's feathers by preening. The preen gland may thus be an alternative way for birds to excrete POPs. Furthermore, if the preen oil applied to the feathers contain POPs, traceable amounts of the pollutants might be left on the feathers. Sampling of feathers may therefore be a non-destructive alternative for monitoring POPs in birds. During the breeding season 2009, 24 black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla were sampled in a colony near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard in order to analyse feather, liver and preen gland samples for POPs. In addition liver and preen gland samples from 12 kittiwakes were analysed for lipid class composition. Kittiwake feathers were found to be contaminated by POPs and the POP profiles in feather and preen gland were found to be more similar than the feather and liver profiles. This indicates a transfer of POPs from the preen gland to the feathers. High levels of contaminants were measured in the preen gland. This creates a basis for the kittiwake to excrete POPs through the preen gland. Similar to liver, the POP concentrations in the preen gland increased from the incubation- to the chick rearing period. This could give the kittiwake an even greater opportunity to excrete POPs in energy demanding periods where POPs are most concentrated. However, a trend for lower feather contamination in chick rearing- compared to incubation period, may indicate lower preen oil production and thereby no increase in the excretion of POPs in energy demanding periods. Despite a very different lipid composition in liver and preen gland samples, only small magnitude differences appeared in the POP profiles and there seem to be no severe restrictions to which POPs could ... |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Solheim, Silje Aakre |
author_facet |
Solheim, Silje Aakre |
author_sort |
Solheim, Silje Aakre |
title |
The Preen Gland - an Organ for Excretion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) |
title_short |
The Preen Gland - an Organ for Excretion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) |
title_full |
The Preen Gland - an Organ for Excretion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) |
title_fullStr |
The Preen Gland - an Organ for Excretion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Preen Gland - an Organ for Excretion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) |
title_sort |
preen gland - an organ for excretion of persistent organic pollutants in black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla) |
publisher |
The University of Bergen |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1956/4112 |
geographic |
Arctic Ny-Ålesund Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Ny-Ålesund Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Black-legged Kittiwake Ny Ålesund Ny-Ålesund rissa tridactyla Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Black-legged Kittiwake Ny Ålesund Ny-Ålesund rissa tridactyla Svalbard |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/1956/4112 |
op_rights |
The author Copyright the author. All rights reserved |
_version_ |
1766348171056775168 |