Department of Animal Biology (Vertebrates), Universitat de Barcelona, Av Diagonal 645, Barcelona, Spain.
Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Apr 1;44(7):2328-34. doi: 10.1021/es902994y.
Although seabirds have been proposed as useful biomonitors for organochlorine contaminants (OCs) in marine environments, their suitability is still unclear. To understand the geographic variability and the influence of seabird trophic ecology in OC levels, we analyzed PCBs, DDTs, delta(13)C, and delta(15)N in the blood of adult Calonectris shearwaters throughout a vast geographic range within the northeast Atlantic Ocean (from Cape Verde to Azores) and the Mediterranean Sea (from the Alboran Sea to Crete). OC concentrations were greater in birds from the Mediterranean than in those from the Atlantic colonies, showing higher and lower chlorinated PCB profiles, respectively. This large-scale pattern may reflect the influence of historical European runoffs in the Mediterranean basin and diffused sources for OCs in remote Atlantic islands. Spatial patterns also emerged within the Atlantic basin, probably associated with pollutant long-range transport and recent inputs of DDT in the food webs of shearwaters from Cape Verde and the Canary islands. Moreover, a positive association of OC concentrations with delta(15)N within each locality points out diet specialization as a major factor explaining differences in OCs at the intraspecific level. Overall, this study highlights wide range breeding seabirds, such as Calonectris shearwaters, as suitable organisms for biomonitoring large geographic trends of organochlorine contamination in the marine environment.
虽然海鸟被认为是海洋环境中有机氯污染物（OCs）的有用生物监测器，但它们的适用性仍不清楚。为了了解 OC 水平的地理变异性和海鸟营养生态的影响，我们分析了东北大西洋（从佛得角到亚速尔群岛）和地中海（从阿尔沃兰海到克里特岛）范围内成年剪嘴鸥血液中的多氯联苯、滴滴涕、δ(13)C 和 δ(15)N。与大西洋殖民地的鸟类相比，来自地中海的鸟类中的 OC 浓度更高，分别显示出更高和更低氯化 PCB 分布。这种大规模的模式可能反映了历史上欧洲径流对地中海盆地的影响，以及在偏远的大西洋岛屿上 OC 的扩散源。在大西洋盆地内也出现了空间模式，可能与污染物的长距离传输以及来自佛得角和加那利群岛的剪嘴鸥食物网中滴滴涕的近期输入有关。此外，在每个地点，OC 浓度与 δ(15)N 之间的正相关表明，饮食专业化是解释种内 OCs 差异的主要因素。总的来说，这项研究强调了广泛繁殖的海鸟，如剪嘴鸥，是海洋环境中有机氯污染大地理趋势生物监测的合适生物。
