Synchronous response of hydrophobic chemicals in herring gull eggs in the Great Lakes

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:49586

Smith, D W ^[1]

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1. BCM Engineers, Inc., Plymouth Meeting, PA (United States)

Short-term changes in hydrophobic organic chemical concentrations in gull eggs are synchronized within and across the Great Lakes. Deviations from long-term trends for PCBs, DDE, dieldrin, mirex, and hexachlorobenzene in Lake Superior gull eggs correlate with deviations of those chemicals in gull eggs from Lake Ontario and, to a lesser extent, the other Great Lakes. This synchrony is inconsistent with the hypothesis that changes in tissue levels are controlled by changes in external loading. Rather, the synchrony implies that some overriding factor -- probably weather -- concurrently affects internal recycling of chemicals across chemicals across the Great Lakes. From 1980 to 1992, deviations from long-term weather patterns correlated significantly with deviations of some hydrophobic chemicals. A weather-driven hypothesis implies that (1) apparent changes in the rate of chemical decline result from uncontrollable changes in internal recycling as opposed to potentially controllable inputs from external sources and (2) the current period of slow contaminant decline is likely to be a short-term phenomenon.

• OSTI ID: 49586
• Report Number(s): CONF-9410273--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
BIRDS
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
GREAT LAKES
POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS
SENSITIVITY
WATER POLLUTION