A baseline for POPs contamination in Australian seabirds: little penguins vs. short-tailed shearwaters
Lewis, P.J.; McGrath, T.J.; Chiaradia, A.; McMahon, C.R.; Emmerson, L.; Allinson, G.; Shimeta, J. (2020). A baseline for POPs contamination in Australian seabirds: little penguins vs. short-tailed shearwaters. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 159: 111488. https://hdl.handle.net/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111488 In: Marine Pollution Bulletin. Macmillan: London. ISSN 0025-326X; e-ISSN 1879-3363, more |  |
| Keywords | Puffinus tenuirostris (Temminck, 1835) [WoRMS]; Aves [WoRMS]; Eudyptula minor (Forster, 1781) [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal | | Author keywords | POPs; PCBs; little penguins; short-tailed shearwaters; PBDEs; Seabirds |
| Authors | | Top | - Lewis, P.J.
- McGrath, T.J., more
- Chiaradia, A.
- McMahon, C.R.
| - Emmerson, L.
- Allinson, G.
- Shimeta, J.
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| Abstract | While globally distributed throughout the world's ecosystems, there is little baseline information on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in marine environments in Australia and, more broadly, the Southern Hemisphere. To fill this knowledge gap, we collected baseline information on POPs in migratory short-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris) from Fisher Island, Tasmania, and resident little penguins (Eudyptula minor) from Phillip Island, Victoria. Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) were determined from blood samples, with total contamination ranging 7.6-47.7 ng/g ww for short-tailed shearwaters and 0.12-46.9 ng/g ww for little penguins. In both species contamination followed the same pattern where PCBs>OCPs>BFRs. BFR levels included the presence of the novel flame retardant hexabromobenzene (HBB). These novel results of POPs in seabirds in southeast Australia provide important information on the local (penguins) and global (shearwaters) distribution of POPs in the marine environment. |
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