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Highly contaminated river otters (Lontra canadensis) are effective biomonitors of environmental pollutant exposure
River otters (Lontra canadensis) are apex predators that bioaccumulate contaminants via their diet, potentially serving as biomonitors of watershed health. They reside throughout the Green-Duwamish River, WA (USA), a watershed encompassing an extreme urbanization gradient, including a US Superfund s...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer International Publishing
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9378324/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35970905 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10272-9 |
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author | Wainstein, Michelle Harding, Louisa B. O’Neill, Sandra M. Boyd, Daryle T. Koontz, Fred Miller, Bobbi Klütsch, Cornelya F. C. Thomas, Philippe J. Ylitalo, Gina M. |
author_facet | Wainstein, Michelle Harding, Louisa B. O’Neill, Sandra M. Boyd, Daryle T. Koontz, Fred Miller, Bobbi Klütsch, Cornelya F. C. Thomas, Philippe J. Ylitalo, Gina M. |
author_sort | Wainstein, Michelle |
collection | PubMed |
description | River otters (Lontra canadensis) are apex predators that bioaccumulate contaminants via their diet, potentially serving as biomonitors of watershed health. They reside throughout the Green-Duwamish River, WA (USA), a watershed encompassing an extreme urbanization gradient, including a US Superfund site slated for a 17-year remediation. The objectives of this study were to document baseline contaminant levels in river otters, assess otters’ utility as top trophic-level biomonitors of contaminant exposure, and evaluate the potential for health impacts on this species. We measured a suite of contaminants of concern, lipid content, nitrogen stable isotopes (δ(15)N), and microsatellite DNA markers in 69 otter scat samples collected from twelve sites. Landcover characteristics were used to group sampling sites into industrial (Superfund site), suburban, and rural development zones. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ether flame-retardants (PBDEs), dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) increased significantly with increasing urbanization, and were best predicted by models that included development zone, suggesting that river otters are effective biomonitors, as defined in this study. Diet also played an important role, with lipid content, δ(15)N or both included in all best models. We recommend river otter scat be included in evaluating restoration efforts in this Superfund site, and as a potentially useful monitoring tool wherever otters are found. We also report ΣPCB and ΣPAH exposures among the highest published for wild river otters, with almost 70% of samples in the Superfund site exceeding established levels of concern. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10661-022-10272-9. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9378324 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Springer International Publishing |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-93783242022-08-17 Highly contaminated river otters (Lontra canadensis) are effective biomonitors of environmental pollutant exposure Wainstein, Michelle Harding, Louisa B. O’Neill, Sandra M. Boyd, Daryle T. Koontz, Fred Miller, Bobbi Klütsch, Cornelya F. C. Thomas, Philippe J. Ylitalo, Gina M. Environ Monit Assess Article River otters (Lontra canadensis) are apex predators that bioaccumulate contaminants via their diet, potentially serving as biomonitors of watershed health. They reside throughout the Green-Duwamish River, WA (USA), a watershed encompassing an extreme urbanization gradient, including a US Superfund site slated for a 17-year remediation. The objectives of this study were to document baseline contaminant levels in river otters, assess otters’ utility as top trophic-level biomonitors of contaminant exposure, and evaluate the potential for health impacts on this species. We measured a suite of contaminants of concern, lipid content, nitrogen stable isotopes (δ(15)N), and microsatellite DNA markers in 69 otter scat samples collected from twelve sites. Landcover characteristics were used to group sampling sites into industrial (Superfund site), suburban, and rural development zones. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ether flame-retardants (PBDEs), dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) increased significantly with increasing urbanization, and were best predicted by models that included development zone, suggesting that river otters are effective biomonitors, as defined in this study. Diet also played an important role, with lipid content, δ(15)N or both included in all best models. We recommend river otter scat be included in evaluating restoration efforts in this Superfund site, and as a potentially useful monitoring tool wherever otters are found. We also report ΣPCB and ΣPAH exposures among the highest published for wild river otters, with almost 70% of samples in the Superfund site exceeding established levels of concern. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10661-022-10272-9. Springer International Publishing 2022-08-16 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC9378324/ /pubmed/35970905 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10272-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Article Wainstein, Michelle Harding, Louisa B. O’Neill, Sandra M. Boyd, Daryle T. Koontz, Fred Miller, Bobbi Klütsch, Cornelya F. C. Thomas, Philippe J. Ylitalo, Gina M. Highly contaminated river otters (Lontra canadensis) are effective biomonitors of environmental pollutant exposure |
title | Highly contaminated river otters (Lontra canadensis) are effective biomonitors of environmental pollutant exposure |
title_full | Highly contaminated river otters (Lontra canadensis) are effective biomonitors of environmental pollutant exposure |
title_fullStr | Highly contaminated river otters (Lontra canadensis) are effective biomonitors of environmental pollutant exposure |
title_full_unstemmed | Highly contaminated river otters (Lontra canadensis) are effective biomonitors of environmental pollutant exposure |
title_short | Highly contaminated river otters (Lontra canadensis) are effective biomonitors of environmental pollutant exposure |
title_sort | highly contaminated river otters (lontra canadensis) are effective biomonitors of environmental pollutant exposure |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9378324/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35970905 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10272-9 |
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