Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3 V9, Canada.
Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, Wildlife and Landscape Science Directorate, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3, Canada.
Environ Sci Technol. 2021 Apr 20;55(8):4923-4931. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.0c08563. Epub 2021 Mar 24.
Interindividual variation in prey specialization is an essential yet overlooked aspect of wildlife feeding ecology, especially as it relates to intrapopulation variation in exposure to toxic contaminants. Here, we assessed blubber concentrations of an extensive suite of persistent organic pollutants in Icelandic killer whales (). Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in blubber were >300-fold higher in the most contaminated individual relative to the least contaminated, ranging from 1.3 to 428.6 mg·kg lw. Mean PCB concentrations were 6-to-9-fold greater in individuals with a mixed diet including marine mammals than in fish specialist individuals, whereas males showed PCB concentrations 4-fold higher than females. Given PCBs have been identified as potentially impacting killer whale population growth, and levels in mixed feeders specifically exceeded known thresholds, the ecology of individuals must be recognized to accurately forecast how contaminants may threaten the long-term persistence of the world's ultimate marine predator.
个体间猎物特化的差异是野生动物摄食生态学中一个重要但被忽视的方面，特别是在与种群内接触有毒污染物的变异有关时。在这里，我们评估了冰岛虎鲸（）中大量持久性有机污染物在鲸脂中的浓度。鲸脂中的多氯联苯（PCB）浓度在污染最严重的个体中比污染最轻的个体高出 300 多倍，范围从 1.3 到 428.6mg·kg lw。在包括海洋哺乳动物的混合饮食个体中，PCB 浓度比专门以鱼类为食的个体高 6 到 9 倍，而雄性个体的 PCB 浓度比雌性个体高 4 倍。鉴于已确定多氯联苯可能对虎鲸种群增长产生影响，并且混合摄食者体内的水平超过了已知的阈值，因此必须认识到个体的生态，以便准确预测污染物可能如何威胁到世界上终极海洋捕食者的长期生存。
