Mercury and Chlorinated Pesticides on the Highest Level of the Food Web as Exemplified by Herring from the Southern Balt
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Mercury and Chlorinated Pesticides on the Highest Level of the Food Web as Exemplified by Herring from the Southern Baltic and African Penguins from the Zoo Lucyna Falkowska & Andrzej R. Reindl & Emilia Szumiło & Justyna Kwaśniak & Marta Staniszewska & Magdalena Bełdowska & Anita Lewandowska & Izabela Krause
Received: 24 November 2012 / Accepted: 28 March 2013 / Published online: 19 April 2013 # The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract Aquatic birds are often used as a health indicator of the marine ecosystem. African penguins living in the zoo make good research material as they form a link between the marine and the terrestrial ecosystem in terms of xenobiotic circulation. Tests were performed on whole herring—the food of the penguins—as well as on bird muscle, liver, brain, eggs, feathers and guano in order to determine total mercury, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, isodrin, endosulfan isomers, endosulfan sulfate, methoxychlor, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites. In herring and penguin, the tests did not show the presence of β-endosulfan, endosulfan sulfate, aldrin and isodrin. It was shown that penguins absorb about 36.8 μg of organochlorine pesticides and 4.6 μg of mercury with their food on a daily basis. Xenobiotics accumulate mostly in the liver, from where they are transported to the muscles and the brain, where
the highest bioaccumulation factor is reached by endrin and pp’-DDT. Conceivably, the older the penguin, the higher is the concentration level of pesticides in its liver and brain. Molting was found to be the most effective way of eliminating mercury, dieldrin and methoxychlor from the system. Insecticides, such as DDT and its metabolites, were removed most effectively by females through laying of eggs. The standard four eggs laid within a year may have contained up to 20 % of the total amount of pesticides which had been absorbed with food, but no more than 5 % of mercury. Keywords Mercury . Persistent organic pollutants . Clupea harengus . Spheniscus demersus . Southern Baltic
1 Introduction L. Falkowska : A. R. Reindl (*) : E. Szumiło : J. Kwaśniak : M. Staniszewska : M. Bełdowska : A. Lewandowska Department of Marine Chemistry and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk, Al. Pilsudskiego 46, 81-387 Gdynia, Poland e-mail: [email protected] I. Krause Municipal Zoological Garden, ul Karwieńska 3, 80-001 Gdańsk, Poland
Mercury and pesticides are present in all elements of the terrestrial and marine environment. Organochlorine compounds created by humans are durable and resilient to biodegradation, demonstrate durability during photodegradation and, when used as pesticides, exhibit toxic properties as a direct result. However, what is very useful in fighting pests in crops has a negative impact on other animals and people (Ebadi et al. 2005; Mineau 2005; Schwarzbach et al. 2005; ElMekkawi et al. 2009). Mercury, which comes from both natural and anthropogenic sources, also pos
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