An assessment of contaminant concentrations in toothed whale species of the NW Iberian Peninsula: Part I. Persistent organic pollutants

Paula Méndez-Fernandez (1) , Lynda Webster (2) , Tiphaine Chouvelon (1) , Paco Bustamante (1) , Marisa Ferreira (3) , Angel González (4) , Alfredo López (5) , Colin Moffat (2) , Graham Pierce (6, 7) , Fiona Read (4) , Marie Russell (2) , Maria Begoña Santos (8) , Jérôme Spitz (9) , José Vingada (10) , Florence Caurant (1)

1 LIENSs - LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés
2 Marine Scotland Science
3 Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology - CBMA (Braga, Portugal)
4 CSIC - Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas
5 CEMMA
6 Oceanlab
7 CESAM and Departamento de Biologia da Universidade de Aveiro
8 IEO - Instituto Español de Oceanografía - Spanish Institute of Oceanography
9 Marine Mammal Research Unit
10 CESAM and Department of Biology

Concentrations and patterns of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the blubber of the five most common toothed whales off the Northwest Iberian Peninsula (NWIP), specifically common dolphin, long-finned pilot whale, harbour porpoise, striped dolphin and bottlenose dolphin, were investigated. The study revealed that differences in PCB and PBDE concentrations among the species are highly dependent on age and sex but also on ecological factors such as trophic level, prey type or habitat. Of the five species studied, bottlenose dolphin and harbour porpoise showed the greatest concentrations of PCBs. Both species exceed the toxic threshold of 17 µg g-1lipid weight (PCBs Aroclor equivalent) for health effects on marine mammals, for100% and 75% of the individuals tested, respectively. Overall, the PCB and PBDE levels observed in the NWIP toothed whales were of the same order of magnitude or lower than those reported by previous studies in areas of the NE Atlantic. However, they are often higher than those for toothed whales from the southern Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.

Mots clés: PCBs; PBDEs; bioaccumulation; patterns; toothed whales; Northwest Iberian Peninsula

Domaines: Ecotoxicologie

Paula Méndez-Fernandez, Lynda Webster, Tiphaine Chouvelon, Paco Bustamante, Marisa Ferreira, et al.. An assessment of contaminant concentrations in toothed whale species of the NW Iberian Peninsula: Part I. Persistent organic pollutants. Science of the Total Environment, 2014, 484, pp.196 - 205. ⟨10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.02.045⟩. ⟨hal-01079865⟩