title: Interspecies and spatial trends in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Atlantic and Mediterranean pelagic seabirds.
abstract: PAHs were analyzed in the liver of 5 species of pelagic seabirds (Procellariiformes) from the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The main objective was to assess the trophic and geographic trends of PAHs in seabirds to evaluate their suitability as bioindicators of chronic marine pollution by these compounds. Although higher levels of PAHs have been described in the Mediterranean compared to other oceanic regions, we did not find significant spatial patterns and observed only minor effects of the geographic origin on seabird PAHs. However, we found significant higher PAH levels in petrel compared to shearwater species, which could be related to differences in their exploitation of mesopelagic and epipelagic resources, respectively, and the vertical dynamic of PAHs in the water column. Overall, although this study enhances the need of multi-species approaches to show a more comprehensive evaluation of marine pollution, seabirds emerged as poor indicators of pelagic chronic PAH levels.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Biodiversity and department of Animal Biology, Barcelona University, Av Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. jlroscales@iqog.csic.es
authors.forename: Jose L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Roscales
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: González-Solís
authors.forename: Pascual
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calabuig
authors.forename: Begoña
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiménez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D001717:Birds / Q000378:metabolism*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons