Bioaccumulative contaminants in marine mammals: uptake and effects
This thesis provides insights into the transport and fate of contaminants of concern (polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and mercury (Hg)), as well as results on the impacts of these compounds on marine mammal health. Atmospheric transport is known to be a signi...
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ftuvicpubl:oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/4519 2023-05-15T15:02:03+02:00 Bioaccumulative contaminants in marine mammals: uptake and effects Noel, Marie Ross, Peter S. Whiticar, Michael J. 2013 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1828/4519 English en eng http://hdl.handle.net/1828/4519 Available to the World Wide Web marine mammals arctic beluga harbour seal PCB PBDE mercury bioaccumulation gene expression Thesis 2013 ftuvicpubl 2022-05-19T06:13:47Z This thesis provides insights into the transport and fate of contaminants of concern (polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and mercury (Hg)), as well as results on the impacts of these compounds on marine mammal health. Atmospheric transport is known to be a significant pathway for the delivery of contaminants to remote food webs. Air and rain samples were collected from one remote site on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia (BC), Canada, and from one near-urban site in the Strait of Georgia, BC. While global atmospheric dispersion was observed for the legacy PCBs, 40% of PBDEs detected in BC air appeared to be originating from trans-Pacific transport. It was estimated that 3kg of PCBs and 17kg of PBDEs were deposited every year in the Strait of Georgia. Once deposited, PCBs, PBDEs and Hg biomagnify up the food chain. Harbour seals are non-migratory and can be used to provide signals of local contaminant sources. They have been extensively used as indicators of PCB and PBDE food web contamination in the BC coastal environment. The collection of over 200 harbour seal fur samples from various locations around Vancouver Island, BC and Puget Sound, WA, USA helped us pinpoint three sites where Hg levels were significantly higher than our reference site, Bella Bella (Queen Charlotte Strait, Port Renfrew and central Puget Sound). A combination of anthropogenic sources and marine food web processes appeared to influence the delivery of methylmercury (MeHg) to the top of this coastal marine food chain. Our results also suggested that these Hg levels (1.6-46.9 µg/g) could be a concern for the health of these harbour seals. Genomic techniques were used to generate insights into the implications of contaminant exposure on the health of marine mammals inhabiting industrialized regions (harbour seals from the Northeastern Pacific and Northwestern Atlantic) and remote, supposedly pristine, environment (Arctic beluga whales). In harbour seal blubber, there were positive ... Thesis Arctic Beluga Beluga* harbour seal University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace Arctic British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Canada Pacific Queen Charlotte ENVELOPE(-132.088,-132.088,53.255,53.255) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftuvicpubl |
language |
English |
topic |
marine mammals arctic beluga harbour seal PCB PBDE mercury bioaccumulation gene expression |
spellingShingle |
marine mammals arctic beluga harbour seal PCB PBDE mercury bioaccumulation gene expression Noel, Marie Bioaccumulative contaminants in marine mammals: uptake and effects |
topic_facet |
marine mammals arctic beluga harbour seal PCB PBDE mercury bioaccumulation gene expression |
description |
This thesis provides insights into the transport and fate of contaminants of concern (polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and mercury (Hg)), as well as results on the impacts of these compounds on marine mammal health. Atmospheric transport is known to be a significant pathway for the delivery of contaminants to remote food webs. Air and rain samples were collected from one remote site on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia (BC), Canada, and from one near-urban site in the Strait of Georgia, BC. While global atmospheric dispersion was observed for the legacy PCBs, 40% of PBDEs detected in BC air appeared to be originating from trans-Pacific transport. It was estimated that 3kg of PCBs and 17kg of PBDEs were deposited every year in the Strait of Georgia. Once deposited, PCBs, PBDEs and Hg biomagnify up the food chain. Harbour seals are non-migratory and can be used to provide signals of local contaminant sources. They have been extensively used as indicators of PCB and PBDE food web contamination in the BC coastal environment. The collection of over 200 harbour seal fur samples from various locations around Vancouver Island, BC and Puget Sound, WA, USA helped us pinpoint three sites where Hg levels were significantly higher than our reference site, Bella Bella (Queen Charlotte Strait, Port Renfrew and central Puget Sound). A combination of anthropogenic sources and marine food web processes appeared to influence the delivery of methylmercury (MeHg) to the top of this coastal marine food chain. Our results also suggested that these Hg levels (1.6-46.9 µg/g) could be a concern for the health of these harbour seals. Genomic techniques were used to generate insights into the implications of contaminant exposure on the health of marine mammals inhabiting industrialized regions (harbour seals from the Northeastern Pacific and Northwestern Atlantic) and remote, supposedly pristine, environment (Arctic beluga whales). In harbour seal blubber, there were positive ... |
author2 |
Ross, Peter S. Whiticar, Michael J. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Noel, Marie |
author_facet |
Noel, Marie |
author_sort |
Noel, Marie |
title |
Bioaccumulative contaminants in marine mammals: uptake and effects |
title_short |
Bioaccumulative contaminants in marine mammals: uptake and effects |
title_full |
Bioaccumulative contaminants in marine mammals: uptake and effects |
title_fullStr |
Bioaccumulative contaminants in marine mammals: uptake and effects |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bioaccumulative contaminants in marine mammals: uptake and effects |
title_sort |
bioaccumulative contaminants in marine mammals: uptake and effects |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/4519 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) ENVELOPE(-132.088,-132.088,53.255,53.255) |
geographic |
Arctic British Columbia Canada Pacific Queen Charlotte |
geographic_facet |
Arctic British Columbia Canada Pacific Queen Charlotte |
genre |
Arctic Beluga Beluga* harbour seal |
genre_facet |
Arctic Beluga Beluga* harbour seal |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/4519 |
op_rights |
Available to the World Wide Web |
_version_ |
1766334048930627584 |