Multivariate Data Analyses of Chlorinated and Brominated Contaminants and Biological Characteristics in Adult Guillemot (Uria aalge) from the Baltic Sea

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 39; no. 22; pp. 8630 - 8637
• Main Authors: Lundstedt-Enkel, Katrin, Johansson, Anna-Karin, Tysklind, Mats, Asplund, Lillemor, Nylund, Kerstin, Olsson, Mats, Örberg, Jan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 15.11.2005
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Animals, Wild - anatomy & histology; Applied ecology; Aves; Baltic States; Biologi; Biological and medical sciences; Biology; Birds; Birds - anatomy & histology; Bromine Compounds - analysis; DECABROMODIPHENYL ETHER; Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene - analysis; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates; ENDOCRINE-DISRUPTING CHEMICALS; Female; FLAME RETARDANTS; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; HYDROCARBON CONTAMINANTS; Hydrocarbons, Brominated - analysis; Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - analysis; Lipids - analysis; Liver - anatomy & histology; Male; Marine; MARINE MAMMALS; Multivariate Analysis; Muscle, Skeletal - chemistry; Muscular system; NATURAL SCIENCES; NATURVETENSKAP; Oceans and Seas; Organ Size; ORGANOCHLORINE CONTAMINANTS; PCB; Phenyl Ethers - analysis; Pollutants; Polybrominated Biphenyls - analysis; POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHERS; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis; POLYCHLORINATED-BIPHENYLS; Principal components analysis; SALMO-SALAR; TROPHIC TRANSFER; Uria aalge; Baltic Sea; ANE, Sweden, Gotland, Stora Karlsoe; ANE, Baltic Sea; Sweden, Gotland, Stora Karlsoe; Discriminant analysis; Insecticide; Pesticides; Flame retardant; Regression analysis; Multivariate analysis; Uria aalge; Polychlorobiphenyl; Body composition; Marine environment; Pollutant; Vertebrata; DDT; Organochlorine compounds; Water pollution; Aves; Biological accumulation; Principal component analysis
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es051118o

Adult guillemot (Uria aalge) birds, 10 females and 10 males, drowned in trawl nets near Stora Karlsö in the Baltic Sea, were collected in 2000. Several of the animals' biological characteristics were recorded. The birds' pectoral muscles were individually analyzed for their concentrations of organochlorines (OCs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorocyclohexanes, trans-nonachlor, hexachlorobenzene, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The dominating contaminant was p,p‘-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p‘-DDE) with a geometric mean concentration of 12 900 ng/g lipid weight (lw). The concentration of ΣPBDE (80 ng/g lw) was similar to that of HBCD (65 ng/g lw). The total concentration of all OCs was approximately 150 times higher than that of all BFRs. For the statistical evaluation of the data, we used multivariate analysis techniques such as principal components analysis, partial least-squares (PLS) regression, and PLS discriminant analyses. No differences between the two sexes were found, either in contaminant concentrations or in biological characteristics. We found that some biological characteristics covaried with the concentrations of several OCs and BFRs, e.g., a negative correlation between liver weight and concentration of contaminants. The concentrations of most OCs but not of BFRs showed a decrease with increasing lipid content. Further, a PLS model with OCs as X and BFRs as Y showed that the contaminants formed two groups, each with distinctive correlation patterns. The PLS model could be used to predict with varying accuracy the concentration of BFRs in the individual muscles from their concentration of OCs.