Chemical contaminants in juvenile gray whales ( Eschrichtius robustus ) from a subsistence harvest in Arctic feeding grounds
Gray whales are coastal migratory baleen whales that are benthic feeders. Most of their feeding takes place in the northern Pacific Ocean with opportunistic feeding taking place during their migrations and residence on the breeding grounds. The concentrations of organochlorines and trace elements we...
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2002
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ftunivnebraskali:oai:digitalcommons.unl.edu:usdeptcommercepub-1078 2023-11-12T04:12:40+01:00 Chemical contaminants in juvenile gray whales ( Eschrichtius robustus ) from a subsistence harvest in Arctic feeding grounds Tilbury, Karen L. Stein, John E. Krone, Cheryl A. Brownell, Robert L., Jr. Blokhin, S.A. Bolton, Jennie L. Ernest, Don W. 2002-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdeptcommercepub/79 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/usdeptcommercepub/article/1078/viewcontent/Brownell_CHEMOSPHERE_2002_Chemical_contaminants.pdf unknown DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdeptcommercepub/79 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/usdeptcommercepub/article/1078/viewcontent/Brownell_CHEMOSPHERE_2002_Chemical_contaminants.pdf Publications, Agencies and Staff of the U.S. Department of Commerce Environmental Sciences text 2002 ftunivnebraskali 2023-10-30T10:42:35Z Gray whales are coastal migratory baleen whales that are benthic feeders. Most of their feeding takes place in the northern Pacific Ocean with opportunistic feeding taking place during their migrations and residence on the breeding grounds. The concentrations of organochlorines and trace elements were determined in tissues and stomach contents of juvenile gray whales that were taken on their Arctic feeding grounds in the western Bering Sea during a Russian subsistence harvest. These concentrations were compared to previously published data for contaminants in gray whales that stranded along the west coast of the US during their northbound migration. Feeding in coastal waters during their migrations may present a risk of exposure to toxic chemicals in some regions. The mean concentration (standard error of the mean, SEM) of Σ PCBs [1400 (130) ng/g, lipid weight] in the blubber of juvenile subsistence whales was significantly lower than the mean level [27 000 (11 000) ng/g, lipid weight] reported previously in juvenile gray whales that stranded in waters off the west coast of the US. Aluminum in stomach contents of the subsistence whales was high compared to other marine mammal species, which is consistent with the ingestion of sediment during feeding. Furthermore, the concentrations of potentially toxic chemicals in tissues were relatively low when compared to the concentrations in tissues of other marine mammals feeding at higher trophic levels. These chemical contaminant data for the subsistence gray whales substantially increase the information available for presumably healthy animals. Text Arctic baleen whales Bering Sea University of Nebraska-Lincoln: DigitalCommons@UNL Arctic Bering Sea Pacific |
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University of Nebraska-Lincoln: DigitalCommons@UNL |
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topic |
Environmental Sciences |
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Environmental Sciences Tilbury, Karen L. Stein, John E. Krone, Cheryl A. Brownell, Robert L., Jr. Blokhin, S.A. Bolton, Jennie L. Ernest, Don W. Chemical contaminants in juvenile gray whales ( Eschrichtius robustus ) from a subsistence harvest in Arctic feeding grounds |
topic_facet |
Environmental Sciences |
description |
Gray whales are coastal migratory baleen whales that are benthic feeders. Most of their feeding takes place in the northern Pacific Ocean with opportunistic feeding taking place during their migrations and residence on the breeding grounds. The concentrations of organochlorines and trace elements were determined in tissues and stomach contents of juvenile gray whales that were taken on their Arctic feeding grounds in the western Bering Sea during a Russian subsistence harvest. These concentrations were compared to previously published data for contaminants in gray whales that stranded along the west coast of the US during their northbound migration. Feeding in coastal waters during their migrations may present a risk of exposure to toxic chemicals in some regions. The mean concentration (standard error of the mean, SEM) of Σ PCBs [1400 (130) ng/g, lipid weight] in the blubber of juvenile subsistence whales was significantly lower than the mean level [27 000 (11 000) ng/g, lipid weight] reported previously in juvenile gray whales that stranded in waters off the west coast of the US. Aluminum in stomach contents of the subsistence whales was high compared to other marine mammal species, which is consistent with the ingestion of sediment during feeding. Furthermore, the concentrations of potentially toxic chemicals in tissues were relatively low when compared to the concentrations in tissues of other marine mammals feeding at higher trophic levels. These chemical contaminant data for the subsistence gray whales substantially increase the information available for presumably healthy animals. |
format |
Text |
author |
Tilbury, Karen L. Stein, John E. Krone, Cheryl A. Brownell, Robert L., Jr. Blokhin, S.A. Bolton, Jennie L. Ernest, Don W. |
author_facet |
Tilbury, Karen L. Stein, John E. Krone, Cheryl A. Brownell, Robert L., Jr. Blokhin, S.A. Bolton, Jennie L. Ernest, Don W. |
author_sort |
Tilbury, Karen L. |
title |
Chemical contaminants in juvenile gray whales ( Eschrichtius robustus ) from a subsistence harvest in Arctic feeding grounds |
title_short |
Chemical contaminants in juvenile gray whales ( Eschrichtius robustus ) from a subsistence harvest in Arctic feeding grounds |
title_full |
Chemical contaminants in juvenile gray whales ( Eschrichtius robustus ) from a subsistence harvest in Arctic feeding grounds |
title_fullStr |
Chemical contaminants in juvenile gray whales ( Eschrichtius robustus ) from a subsistence harvest in Arctic feeding grounds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Chemical contaminants in juvenile gray whales ( Eschrichtius robustus ) from a subsistence harvest in Arctic feeding grounds |
title_sort |
chemical contaminants in juvenile gray whales ( eschrichtius robustus ) from a subsistence harvest in arctic feeding grounds |
publisher |
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdeptcommercepub/79 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/usdeptcommercepub/article/1078/viewcontent/Brownell_CHEMOSPHERE_2002_Chemical_contaminants.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic Bering Sea Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bering Sea Pacific |
genre |
Arctic baleen whales Bering Sea |
genre_facet |
Arctic baleen whales Bering Sea |
op_source |
Publications, Agencies and Staff of the U.S. Department of Commerce |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdeptcommercepub/79 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/usdeptcommercepub/article/1078/viewcontent/Brownell_CHEMOSPHERE_2002_Chemical_contaminants.pdf |
_version_ |
1782331074058125312 |