Organochlorine Residues in South American Sea Lions, Otaria flavescens (Shaw, 1800): Bioaccumulation and Time Trends

BORRELL, A.; GARCIA-SOLÀ, A.; AGUILAR, A.; GARCÍA, N. A.; CRESPO, E. A.

BULLETIN OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION AND TOXICOLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2010 vol. 84 p. 731 - 737

0007-4861

Abstract Blubber from stranded South American sealions (Otaria flavescens) was sampled between 1991 and2005 on the Peninsula Valde´s in Argentina and analyzedfor organochlorine (OC) pollutants. Mean blubber concentrations,expressed on an extractable basis, were 686(SD = 1,060) ng g-1 for dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane(tDDT) and 735 (SD = 787) ng g-1 for polychlorinatedbyphenils (PCB). The OC levels were well below thoseassociated with adverse sublethal effects and lethality inmammals. OC concentrations showed statistically significantassociations with age that were positive in males andnegative in females. These trends are consistent with themajority of marine mammal populations studied. Therewere no trends in the levels of tDDT or PCB over time. Inspite of the low levels detected, OC contamination waspresent consistently over the 14-year period, suggestingcontinuous inputs from geographic redistribution.