Bioaccumulation of organic contaminants in the liver and blubber of pilot whales (Globicephala melaena) beached on Cape Cod, MA
Conference
·
OSTI ID:398207
- North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Dept. of Toxicology
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA (United States)
Populations of many marine organisms in Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay have been declining for decades. Overfishing, habitat loss, disease, and exposure to toxic contaminants have been implicated as causative factors for reductions in both commercially important species and endangered marine mammal populations. The purpose of this study was to determine if exposure to organic contaminants could be a factor in the pilot whale population decline and to develop a simple bioaccumulation model to assess the relative importance of the route of uptake and the significance of total elimination. Liver and blubber samples from ten individuals beached in 1991 on Cape Cod, MA were analyzed by gas chromatography/electron capture detection (GC/ECD) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and linear alkyl benzenes (LABs). PCBs, DDT, DDE, DDD, and other chlorinated pesticides were identified and found to be high (ppm range) in several individuals. PAHs and LABs were typically below one ppb. Concentrations of these contaminants in the water and food that pilot whales consume were used in a bioaccumulation model. The model predicted lower concentrations in the whale than the authors observed. For all but the least hydrophobic contaminants (e.g., naphthalene) they predict that food (biomagnification) is the dominant route of uptake into the whales.
- OSTI ID:
- 398207
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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