Persistent organic pollutants and methoxylated PBDEs in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: young wildlife at risk?
In the European North Sea, harbour porpoises are top predators with relatively long life spans and a limited capacity for metabolic biotransformation of contaminants compared to some other marine mammal species. As such, they are exposed to a mixture of persistent pollutants, such as polychlorinated...
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Online Access: | https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:401828 |
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ftunivqespace:oai:espace.library.uq.edu.au:UQ:401828 2023-05-15T16:33:22+02:00 Persistent organic pollutants and methoxylated PBDEs in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: young wildlife at risk? Weijs, Liesbeth van Elk, Cornelis Das, Krishna Blust, Ronny Covaci, Adrian 2010-12-01 https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:401828 eng eng Elsevier BV doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.09.035 issn:0048-9697 issn:1879-1026 orcid:0000-0002-2399-1711 1990-2008 Calves Chlordanes Harbour porpoises HCB MeO-PBDEs PBDEs PCBs Pesticides Temporal trends 2304 Environmental Chemistry 2305 Environmental Engineering 2310 Pollution 2311 Waste Management and Disposal Journal Article 2010 ftunivqespace https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.09.035 2020-08-05T21:13:07Z In the European North Sea, harbour porpoises are top predators with relatively long life spans and a limited capacity for metabolic biotransformation of contaminants compared to some other marine mammal species. As such, they are exposed to a mixture of persistent pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), DDT and metabolites (DDXs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and chlordanes (CHLs) that bioaccumulate in their tissues. We report here on the levels of persistent organic pollutants and of the naturally-produced methoxylated PBDEs (MeO-PBDEs) in blubber, liver and kidney of harbour porpoise neonates (n = 3), calves (n = 15), juveniles (n = 6) and adults (n = 4) of the southern North Sea. Concentrations of almost all contaminant classes decrease slightly in all age groups over the period 1990-2008. For some classes (e.g. PCBs and DDXs) however, levels seem to increase little in harbour porpoise calves. In all animals, blubber had the highest concentrations, followed by liver and kidney, whereas liver and kidney were the preferred tissues for several compounds, such as octa- and deca-PCBs. Our data suggest that harbour porpoises calves are exposed to higher or comparable concentrations of POPs and of MeO-PBDEs and somewhat different patterns of selected POPs than adults, potentially placing them, and the entire population, at a disproportionate risk for exposure-related health effects. Article in Journal/Newspaper Harbour porpoise The University of Queensland: UQ eSpace Science of The Total Environment 409 1 228 237 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The University of Queensland: UQ eSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftunivqespace |
language |
English |
topic |
1990-2008 Calves Chlordanes Harbour porpoises HCB MeO-PBDEs PBDEs PCBs Pesticides Temporal trends 2304 Environmental Chemistry 2305 Environmental Engineering 2310 Pollution 2311 Waste Management and Disposal |
spellingShingle |
1990-2008 Calves Chlordanes Harbour porpoises HCB MeO-PBDEs PBDEs PCBs Pesticides Temporal trends 2304 Environmental Chemistry 2305 Environmental Engineering 2310 Pollution 2311 Waste Management and Disposal Weijs, Liesbeth van Elk, Cornelis Das, Krishna Blust, Ronny Covaci, Adrian Persistent organic pollutants and methoxylated PBDEs in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: young wildlife at risk? |
topic_facet |
1990-2008 Calves Chlordanes Harbour porpoises HCB MeO-PBDEs PBDEs PCBs Pesticides Temporal trends 2304 Environmental Chemistry 2305 Environmental Engineering 2310 Pollution 2311 Waste Management and Disposal |
description |
In the European North Sea, harbour porpoises are top predators with relatively long life spans and a limited capacity for metabolic biotransformation of contaminants compared to some other marine mammal species. As such, they are exposed to a mixture of persistent pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), DDT and metabolites (DDXs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and chlordanes (CHLs) that bioaccumulate in their tissues. We report here on the levels of persistent organic pollutants and of the naturally-produced methoxylated PBDEs (MeO-PBDEs) in blubber, liver and kidney of harbour porpoise neonates (n = 3), calves (n = 15), juveniles (n = 6) and adults (n = 4) of the southern North Sea. Concentrations of almost all contaminant classes decrease slightly in all age groups over the period 1990-2008. For some classes (e.g. PCBs and DDXs) however, levels seem to increase little in harbour porpoise calves. In all animals, blubber had the highest concentrations, followed by liver and kidney, whereas liver and kidney were the preferred tissues for several compounds, such as octa- and deca-PCBs. Our data suggest that harbour porpoises calves are exposed to higher or comparable concentrations of POPs and of MeO-PBDEs and somewhat different patterns of selected POPs than adults, potentially placing them, and the entire population, at a disproportionate risk for exposure-related health effects. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Weijs, Liesbeth van Elk, Cornelis Das, Krishna Blust, Ronny Covaci, Adrian |
author_facet |
Weijs, Liesbeth van Elk, Cornelis Das, Krishna Blust, Ronny Covaci, Adrian |
author_sort |
Weijs, Liesbeth |
title |
Persistent organic pollutants and methoxylated PBDEs in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: young wildlife at risk? |
title_short |
Persistent organic pollutants and methoxylated PBDEs in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: young wildlife at risk? |
title_full |
Persistent organic pollutants and methoxylated PBDEs in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: young wildlife at risk? |
title_fullStr |
Persistent organic pollutants and methoxylated PBDEs in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: young wildlife at risk? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Persistent organic pollutants and methoxylated PBDEs in harbour porpoises from the North Sea from 1990 until 2008: young wildlife at risk? |
title_sort |
persistent organic pollutants and methoxylated pbdes in harbour porpoises from the north sea from 1990 until 2008: young wildlife at risk? |
publisher |
Elsevier BV |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:401828 |
genre |
Harbour porpoise |
genre_facet |
Harbour porpoise |
op_relation |
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.09.035 issn:0048-9697 issn:1879-1026 orcid:0000-0002-2399-1711 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.09.035 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
409 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
228 |
op_container_end_page |
237 |
_version_ |
1766023063010279424 |