Concentration and toxic potential of polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in migratory oceanic birds from the North Pacific and the Southern Ocean

• Published in: Marine environmental research 2001-09, Vol.52 (3), p.271-288
• Main Authors: Guruge, K.S, Tanaka, H, Tanabe, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipose Tissue - chemistry; Albatross; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Antarctic Regions; Applied ecology; Aves; Biological and medical sciences; Birds - metabolism; Coplanar PCBs; Diet - adverse effects; Diet - veterinary; Diomedea cauta; Diomedea chlororhynchos; Diomedea chrysostoma; Diomedea epomophora; Diomedea immutabilis; Diomedeidae; Dioxin equivalents; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Pollutants - metabolism; Environmental Pollutants - toxicity; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geography; Macronectes halli; Male; Marine; Movement; Organochlorine; Pacific Ocean; Petrel; Phoebastria immutabilis; Phoebastria nigripes; Phoebetria palpebrata; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - metabolism; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - toxicity; Procellariidae; Southern Ocean; Thalassarche melanophris; Water Pollutants, Chemical - metabolism; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity
• ISSN: 0141-1136; 1879-0291
• DOI: 10.1016/S0141-1136(01)00099-X

Concentrations of PCBs and their toxic potential were examined in subcutaneous fat of eight albatross and one petrel species collected from the North Pacific and the Southern Oceans. Among all the species analyzed, high PCB levels were found in adult male black-footed albatross from the North Pacific with the mean value of 92 μg/g wet weight. No significant gender difference in PCB accumulation was observed ( P>0.1). The mean PCB levels in Southern Oceanic birds were 1 or 2 orders of magnitude lower than those from the North Pacific albatrosses. A regional-specific accumulation of non-ortho coplanar congeners were observed, most birds from the Southern Ocean had higher IUPAC 169 levels while IUPAC 126 concentrations were higher in those from the North Pacific. The estimated toxic equivalents for black-footed and Laysan albatrosses from the North Pacific were in the same range of some fish-eating birds, which were highly contaminated by PCBs. The correlation between ratio of IUPAC 169/126 concentration and total PCBs concentration indicated the possibility of induction in cytochrome P450 activities in North Pacific albatrosses ( P