title: PBDEs and other POPs in urban birds of prey partly explained by trophic level and carbon source.
abstract: As urban sprawl and agricultural intensification continue to invade prime wildlife habitat, some animals, even apex predators, are managing to adapt to this new environment. Chemical pollution is one of many stressors that wildlife encounter in urban environments. Predators are particularly sensitive to persistent chemical pollutants because they feed at a high trophic level where such pollution is biomagnified. To examine levels of pollution in urban birds of prey in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, we analyzed persistent organic contaminants in adult birds found dead of trauma injury. The hepatic geometric mean concentration of sum polybrominated diphenyl ethers (∑PBDEs) in 13 Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii) from Greater Vancouver was 1873 ng/g (lipid weight) with one bird reaching 197,000n g/g lipid weight, the highest exposure reported to date for a wild bird. Concentrations of ∑PBDEs, ∑PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and, surprisingly, cyclodiene insecticides were greatest in the urban environment while those of DDE (1,1-dichloroethylene bis[p-chlorophenyl) were highest in a region of intensive agriculture. The level of most chlorinated and brominated contaminants increased with trophic level (δ(15)N). The concentrations of some contaminants, PBDEs in particular, in these birds of prey may have some toxicological consequences. Apex predators in urban environments continue to be exposed to elevated concentrations of legacy pollutants as well as more recent brominated pollutants.
authors.affiliation: Environment Canada, Science & Technology Branch, Pacific Wildlife Research Centre, Delta, British Columbia V4K 3N2, Canada; Department of Biological Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brogan
authors.affiliation: Environment Canada, Science & Technology Branch, Pacific Wildlife Research Centre, Delta, British Columbia V4K 3N2, Canada.
authors.forename: Sandi L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada.
authors.forename: Ken G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Drouillard
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec H9X 3V9, Canada.
authors.forename: Kyle H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Elliott
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001955:British Columbia; D002244:Carbon; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D046093:Falconiformes / Q000378:metabolism*; D020387:Food Chain; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000378:metabolism*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D002244:Carbon; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: PBDEs; POPs; Predator; Raptor; Stable isotopes; Urban ecosystems