Levels and distribution pattern of organochlorine pesticide residues in eggs of 22 terrestrial birds from Tamil Nadu, In
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Levels and distribution pattern of organochlorine pesticide residues in eggs of 22 terrestrial birds from Tamil Nadu, India Dhananjayan Venugopal 1,2 & Muralidharan Subramanian 2 & Jayakumar Rajamani 3 & Jayanthi Palaniyappan 4 & Jayakumar Samidurai 5 & Alaguraj Arumugam 2 Received: 13 April 2020 / Accepted: 1 July 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Long-term monitoring is essential to assess the patterns and distribution of the residues of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in biota. Bird eggs have several advantages than other environmental matrixes, which have been used extensively to portray the accumulation and distribution of OCPs. The present study investigated the organochlorine pesticide (OCP) residues in eggs of 22 species of terrestrial birds collected from Tamil Nadu, India. Eggs found abandoned were collected during nest monitoring between 2001 and 2008 and analyzed for the presence of organochlorine pesticide residues. The results showed that the mean concentrations of total hexachlorohexane (∑HCHs), total dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (∑DDTs), heptachlor epoxide, and dieldrin ranged from non-detectable (nd) to 2800 ng/g, nd to1000 ng/g, nd to 700 ng/g, and nd to 240 ng/g on a wet mass (wm) basis, respectively. The variation in magnitude of contamination among the species and feeding guilds were not significantly different (p > 0.05). Among the OCPs analyzed, the residues of β-HCH and p,p′-DDE were found to be the abundant in concentration. Similarly, among various bird species studied, the highest concentrations of ∑OCPs (> 5000 ng/g wm) were recorded in the eggs of gray junglefowl, scaly-breasted munia, and red-whiskered bulbul. This may be due to their widespread occurrence of their habitat at proximity to the agricultural fields, where organochlorines were in use until recently. Among the various contaminants analyzed, concentrations of p,p′-DDE and heptachlor epoxide exceeded the threshold levels of toxicity for wild birds in > 5% of the egg samples. Hence, this study indicates the need for continued monitoring and further systematic ecotoxicological investigation of these compounds not only in eggs but also in other environmental media. Keywords Organochlorine pesticides . Bird eggs . Feeding guilds . Risk evaluation . India
Introduction
Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues * Dhananjayan Venugopal [email protected] 1
ICMR-Regional Occupational Health Centre (Southern), Indian Council of Medical Research, Bangalore 562110, India
2
Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty, Coimbatore 641108, India
3
GITAM University, Bangalore Campus, Nagadenahalli, Bangalore 561203, India
4
Department of Environmental Science, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu 636011, India
5
Department of Zoology & Wildlife Biology, A.V.C. College (Autonomous), Mayiladuthurai 609305, India
Over the past several decades, enormous quantities of pesticides have been used across the world in order to increase the food production
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