1. Maternal transfer of organohalogen contaminants and metabolites to eggs of Arctic-breeding glaucous gulls.
- Author
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Verreault J, Villa RA, Gabrielsen GW, Skaare JU, and Letcher RJ
- Subjects
- Animals, Arctic Regions, Biological Transport, Eggs analysis, Environmental Monitoring methods, Environmental Pollutants analysis, Environmental Pollutants blood, Female, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Mothers, Norway, Pesticide Residues analysis, Pesticide Residues blood, Polychlorinated Biphenyls analysis, Polychlorinated Biphenyls blood, Charadriiformes metabolism, Environmental Pollutants metabolism, Pesticide Residues metabolism, Polychlorinated Biphenyls metabolism
- Abstract
Eggs of seabirds have routinely been used as indicators of environmental pollution in the Arctic. However, the variability in organohalogen concentration and composition associated with the laying sequence, have not been defined. We examined a suite of PCBs, organochlorine (OC) pesticides and by-products, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and methylsulfonyl- (MeSO2) PCBs in complete 3-egg clutches of glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus), and plasma samples of the laying females collected from the Norwegian Arctic. SigmaPCB, SigmaOC and SigmaPBDE, but not SigmaMeSO2-PCB, concentrations in eggs were positively associated, with increasing magnitude and significance from the first through the last-laid egg, with concentrations in female plasma. However, the concentrations of these organohalogen classes fluctuated irrespective of the laying order in the clutch. In general, maternal transfer favored low K(ow) and/or less persistent compounds, whereas the recalcitrant and/or higher-halogenated compounds were less readily transferred, and consequently more selectively retained in the mother.
- Published
- 2006
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