Individual variation in biomarkers of health: Influence of persistent organic pollutants in Great skuas (Stercorarius skua) breeding at different geographical locations
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been shown to cause adverse effects on a number of biomarkers of health in birds. POPs may impair immune function and alter the stress response, defined as a suite of behavioral and physiological responses to environmental perturbations. Recent studies have...
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Online Access: | https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/383 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.004 |
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ftunivwindsor:oai:scholar.uwindsor.ca:glierpub-1385 2023-06-11T04:09:55+02:00 Individual variation in biomarkers of health: Influence of persistent organic pollutants in Great skuas (Stercorarius skua) breeding at different geographical locations Bourgeon, Sophie Leat, Eliza H.K. Magnusdóttir, Ellen Fisk, Aaron T. Furness, Robert W. Strøm, Hallvard Hanssen, Sveinn Are Petersen, Ævar E. Olafsdóttir, Kristin Borgå, Katrine Gabrielsen, Geir W. Bustnes, Jan Ove 2012-10-01T07:00:00Z https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/383 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.004 unknown Scholarship at UWindsor https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/383 doi:10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.004 Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications Brominated flame retardants Feather corticosterone Organochlorines Oxidative stress Plasma immunoglobulin Y text 2012 ftunivwindsor https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.004 2023-05-06T19:10:50Z Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been shown to cause adverse effects on a number of biomarkers of health in birds. POPs may impair immune function and alter the stress response, defined as a suite of behavioral and physiological responses to environmental perturbations. Recent studies have also proposed that POPs can induce oxidative stress. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies simultaneously assessing the potential damaging effects of POPs on the latter biomarkers. In this study, we examined the contribution of legacy (organochlorines; (OCs)) and emerging (flame retardants; PBDEs) POPs to individual variations in stress levels (feather corticosterone), humoral immunity (plasma immunoglobulin Y levels) and oxidative stress occurring in three breeding colonies of a top predator seabird, the Great skua (Stercorarius skua), distributed from temperate regions to the high Arctic: Shetland (60 oN), Iceland (63°N) and Bjørnøya (74°N). Our results demonstrated that plasma concentrations of OCs in Great skuas from Bjørnøya are among the highest in North Atlantic seabirds, with up to 7900μg/kg (ww) ∑OCs. Yet, a latitudinal gradient in POP levels was observed with all compounds being significantly higher in Bjørnøya than in Iceland and Shetland (on average 4-7 fold higher for OCs and 2.5-4.5 for PBDEs, respectively). Contrary to our predictions, skuas breeding at the least contaminated site (i.e., Shetland) experienced the poorest physiological condition; i.e., the highest levels of stress hormones (25% higher) and oxidative stress (50% higher) and the lowest immunoglobulin levels (15% lower) compared to the two other colonies. Finally, our results failed to point out consistent within-colony relationships between biomarkers of health and POPs. Overall, it is suggested that other ecological factors such as food availability could constrain physiological indicators more than anthropogenic contaminants. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. Text Arctic Bjørnøya Bjørnøya Great skua Iceland North Atlantic Stercorarius skua University of Windsor, Ontario: Scholarship at UWindsor Arctic Bjørnøya ENVELOPE(-67.250,-67.250,-68.151,-68.151) Environmental Research 118 31 39 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Windsor, Ontario: Scholarship at UWindsor |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwindsor |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Brominated flame retardants Feather corticosterone Organochlorines Oxidative stress Plasma immunoglobulin Y |
spellingShingle |
Brominated flame retardants Feather corticosterone Organochlorines Oxidative stress Plasma immunoglobulin Y Bourgeon, Sophie Leat, Eliza H.K. Magnusdóttir, Ellen Fisk, Aaron T. Furness, Robert W. Strøm, Hallvard Hanssen, Sveinn Are Petersen, Ævar E. Olafsdóttir, Kristin Borgå, Katrine Gabrielsen, Geir W. Bustnes, Jan Ove Individual variation in biomarkers of health: Influence of persistent organic pollutants in Great skuas (Stercorarius skua) breeding at different geographical locations |
topic_facet |
Brominated flame retardants Feather corticosterone Organochlorines Oxidative stress Plasma immunoglobulin Y |
description |
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been shown to cause adverse effects on a number of biomarkers of health in birds. POPs may impair immune function and alter the stress response, defined as a suite of behavioral and physiological responses to environmental perturbations. Recent studies have also proposed that POPs can induce oxidative stress. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies simultaneously assessing the potential damaging effects of POPs on the latter biomarkers. In this study, we examined the contribution of legacy (organochlorines; (OCs)) and emerging (flame retardants; PBDEs) POPs to individual variations in stress levels (feather corticosterone), humoral immunity (plasma immunoglobulin Y levels) and oxidative stress occurring in three breeding colonies of a top predator seabird, the Great skua (Stercorarius skua), distributed from temperate regions to the high Arctic: Shetland (60 oN), Iceland (63°N) and Bjørnøya (74°N). Our results demonstrated that plasma concentrations of OCs in Great skuas from Bjørnøya are among the highest in North Atlantic seabirds, with up to 7900μg/kg (ww) ∑OCs. Yet, a latitudinal gradient in POP levels was observed with all compounds being significantly higher in Bjørnøya than in Iceland and Shetland (on average 4-7 fold higher for OCs and 2.5-4.5 for PBDEs, respectively). Contrary to our predictions, skuas breeding at the least contaminated site (i.e., Shetland) experienced the poorest physiological condition; i.e., the highest levels of stress hormones (25% higher) and oxidative stress (50% higher) and the lowest immunoglobulin levels (15% lower) compared to the two other colonies. Finally, our results failed to point out consistent within-colony relationships between biomarkers of health and POPs. Overall, it is suggested that other ecological factors such as food availability could constrain physiological indicators more than anthropogenic contaminants. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. |
format |
Text |
author |
Bourgeon, Sophie Leat, Eliza H.K. Magnusdóttir, Ellen Fisk, Aaron T. Furness, Robert W. Strøm, Hallvard Hanssen, Sveinn Are Petersen, Ævar E. Olafsdóttir, Kristin Borgå, Katrine Gabrielsen, Geir W. Bustnes, Jan Ove |
author_facet |
Bourgeon, Sophie Leat, Eliza H.K. Magnusdóttir, Ellen Fisk, Aaron T. Furness, Robert W. Strøm, Hallvard Hanssen, Sveinn Are Petersen, Ævar E. Olafsdóttir, Kristin Borgå, Katrine Gabrielsen, Geir W. Bustnes, Jan Ove |
author_sort |
Bourgeon, Sophie |
title |
Individual variation in biomarkers of health: Influence of persistent organic pollutants in Great skuas (Stercorarius skua) breeding at different geographical locations |
title_short |
Individual variation in biomarkers of health: Influence of persistent organic pollutants in Great skuas (Stercorarius skua) breeding at different geographical locations |
title_full |
Individual variation in biomarkers of health: Influence of persistent organic pollutants in Great skuas (Stercorarius skua) breeding at different geographical locations |
title_fullStr |
Individual variation in biomarkers of health: Influence of persistent organic pollutants in Great skuas (Stercorarius skua) breeding at different geographical locations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Individual variation in biomarkers of health: Influence of persistent organic pollutants in Great skuas (Stercorarius skua) breeding at different geographical locations |
title_sort |
individual variation in biomarkers of health: influence of persistent organic pollutants in great skuas (stercorarius skua) breeding at different geographical locations |
publisher |
Scholarship at UWindsor |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/383 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.004 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-67.250,-67.250,-68.151,-68.151) |
geographic |
Arctic Bjørnøya |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bjørnøya |
genre |
Arctic Bjørnøya Bjørnøya Great skua Iceland North Atlantic Stercorarius skua |
genre_facet |
Arctic Bjørnøya Bjørnøya Great skua Iceland North Atlantic Stercorarius skua |
op_source |
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications |
op_relation |
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/glierpub/383 doi:10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.004 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2012.08.004 |
container_title |
Environmental Research |
container_volume |
118 |
container_start_page |
31 |
op_container_end_page |
39 |
_version_ |
1768383948749012992 |