Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 98-108 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Ecological Indicators |
| Volume | 74 |
| Early online date | 23 Nov 2016 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2017 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- persistent organic pollutants
- biogeochemical tracers
- multivariate analysis
- cetaceans
- Northwest Iberian Peninsula
Cite this
Inter-species differences in polychlorinated biphenyls patterns from five sympatric species of odontocetes : Can PCBs be used as tracers of feeding ecology? / Mendez-Fernandez, Paula; Simon-Bouhet, Benoit ; Bustamante, Paco; Chouvelon, Tiphaine; Ferreira, Marisa; Lopez, Alfredo; Moffat, Colin F.; Pierce, Graham J.; Santos, Maria B.; Spitz, Jerome; Vingada, Jose V.; Webster, Lynda; Read, Fiona L.; González, Angel F.; Caurant, Florence.
In: Ecological Indicators, Vol. 74, 03.2017, p. 98-108.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Inter-species differences in polychlorinated biphenyls patterns from five sympatric species of odontocetes
T2 - Can PCBs be used as tracers of feeding ecology?
AU - Mendez-Fernandez, Paula
AU - Simon-Bouhet, Benoit
AU - Bustamante, Paco
AU - Chouvelon, Tiphaine
AU - Ferreira, Marisa
AU - Lopez, Alfredo
AU - Moffat, Colin F.
AU - Pierce, Graham J.
AU - Santos, Maria B.
AU - Spitz, Jerome
AU - Vingada, Jose V.
AU - Webster, Lynda
AU - Read, Fiona L.
AU - González, Angel F.
AU - Caurant, Florence
N1 - The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of volunteers from the Galician (CEMMA) and Portuguese (SPVS) stranding networks. The authors would like to thank R. Gallois and C. Trichet for their participation on total lipid content analysis. P. Méndez-Fernandez was supported during the research period through a PhD grant from the Fundação do Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia de Portugal and ANIMATE project (SFRH/BD/36766/2007) and through a Science Without Borders (CSF) young talent postdoctoral grant of the Brazilian government. G. J. Pierce acknowledges support from the EU ANIMATE project (MEXC-CT-2006-042337), University of Aveiro and Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Portugal).
PY - 2017/3
Y1 - 2017/3
N2 - Concentrations of thirty two polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in the blubber of five sympatric species of odontocetes stranded or by-caught along the Northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula: common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas), harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) and bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Multivariate analyses were applied to evaluate the ability of PCB patterns to discriminate these sympatric species and to determine which eco-biological factors influence these patterns, thus evaluating the relevance of PCB concentrations as biogeochemical tracers of feeding ecology. The five species could be separated according to their PCB patterns. Different exposure to these contaminants, a consequence of their different dietary preferences or habitats, together with potentially dissimilar metabolic capacities, likely explain these results; sex, age, habitat and the type of prey eaten were the most important eco-biological parameters of those tested. Although, no single congener has been specifically identified as a tracer of feeding ecology, 4 congeners from the 22 analysed seemed to be the most useful and around 12 congeners appear to be enough to achieve good discrimination of the cetaceans studied. Therefore, this study suggests that PCB patterns can be used as tracers for studying the feeding ecology, sources of contamination or even population structure of cetacean species from the Northwest Iberian Peninsula.
AB - Concentrations of thirty two polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in the blubber of five sympatric species of odontocetes stranded or by-caught along the Northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula: common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas), harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) and bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Multivariate analyses were applied to evaluate the ability of PCB patterns to discriminate these sympatric species and to determine which eco-biological factors influence these patterns, thus evaluating the relevance of PCB concentrations as biogeochemical tracers of feeding ecology. The five species could be separated according to their PCB patterns. Different exposure to these contaminants, a consequence of their different dietary preferences or habitats, together with potentially dissimilar metabolic capacities, likely explain these results; sex, age, habitat and the type of prey eaten were the most important eco-biological parameters of those tested. Although, no single congener has been specifically identified as a tracer of feeding ecology, 4 congeners from the 22 analysed seemed to be the most useful and around 12 congeners appear to be enough to achieve good discrimination of the cetaceans studied. Therefore, this study suggests that PCB patterns can be used as tracers for studying the feeding ecology, sources of contamination or even population structure of cetacean species from the Northwest Iberian Peninsula.
KW - persistent organic pollutants
KW - biogeochemical tracers
KW - multivariate analysis
KW - cetaceans
KW - Northwest Iberian Peninsula
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.11.013
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.11.013
M3 - Article
VL - 74
SP - 98
EP - 108
JO - Ecological Indicators
JF - Ecological Indicators
SN - 1470-160X
ER -