Provencher Jennifer F, Thomas Philippe J, Braune Birgit M, Pauli Bruce, Tomy Gregg, Idowu Ifeoluwa, O'Hara Patrick, Mallory Mark L
Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, Environment and Climate Change, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, Environment and Climate Change, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 20;826:154088. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154088. Epub 2022 Feb 23.
Seabirds are exposed to a variety of environmental contaminants in the Arctic. While the persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of some groups of contaminants have been well-studied in seabirds since the 1970s, there is less known about polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). With increased vessel traffic, and potential oil and gas development in the Arctic region, there is a need to understand existing PAC exposure in biota against which to compare potential effects of anticipated increases of PACs in the marine region. Thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) and northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) collected in the Baffin Bay - Davis Strait region during the International Polar Year (IPY; 2007-08), and during a recent Strategic Environmental Assessment (2018; SEA) were examined for hepatic PAC concentrations. We found that fulmars generally had higher concentrations of PACs than the murres, but murres and fulmars sampled in 2007/08 had higher concentrations of most groups of PACs compared to birds from 2018. The one exception to this pattern was that the sum of the alkylated congeners of the heterocyclic aromatic compounds containing a sulfur atom (dibenzothiophene; ΣAHET) was significantly higher in murres in the more recent sampling period (2018) as compared to 2007/08. ΣAHETs likely reflect recent exposure to more refined petroleum products associated with small boats, such as diesel, gasoline and motor oil. This work highlights the need for longitudinal studies on PAC concentrations in biota for us to gain a better understanding of how Arctic biota are exposed to this group of contaminants, and the potential deleterious effects associated with PACs.
海鸟在北极地区会接触到各种环境污染物。自20世纪70年代以来，虽然某些污染物组的持久性、生物累积性和毒性在海鸟中已得到充分研究，但对于多环芳烃化合物（PACs）的了解却较少。随着北极地区船只交通的增加以及潜在的石油和天然气开发，有必要了解生物群中现有的PAC暴露情况，以便与海洋区域中预期增加的PACs的潜在影响进行比较。对在国际极地年（IPY；2007 - 2008年）以及最近一次战略环境评估（2018年；SEA）期间在巴芬湾 - 戴维斯海峡地区收集的厚嘴海鸦（厚嘴海鸦属）和北极海鸥（北极海鸥属）的肝脏PAC浓度进行了检测。我们发现，海鸥的PAC浓度通常高于海鸦，但与2018年的鸟类相比，2007/08年采样的海鸦和海鸥大多数PAC组的浓度更高。这种模式的一个例外是，在最近的采样期（2018年），厚嘴海鸦中含硫杂环芳烃化合物（二苯并噻吩；ΣAHET）的烷基化同系物总和与2007/08年相比显著更高。ΣAHETs可能反映了近期接触与小船相关的更精炼石油产品的情况，如柴油、汽油和机油。这项工作强调了对生物群中PAC浓度进行纵向研究的必要性，以便我们更好地了解北极生物群如何接触到这类污染物以及与PACs相关的潜在有害影响。
