Monitoring the Elimination of Persistent Toxic Substances from the Great Lakes; Chemical and Physiological Evidence from Adult Herring Gulls

Fox, Glen A.; Trudeau, Suzanne; Won, Henry T.; Grasman, Keith A.

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-5290-7_6

Cited by 23 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The decreases in these chemicals have been associated with a reduction of developmental defects and embryonic mortality. However, due to the persistence of many of these contaminants and thus sustained lower exposure to them, these problems, including endocrine disruption, have not disappeared (Fox et al, 1998;review, Scanes and McNabb, 2003). PCBs and disruption of thyroid function will be discussed further in the following sections.…”

Section: Historical Significance Of Pcbs In the Great Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From 1974From -1993From , especially before 1985, in several herring gull colonies of the Great Lakes, PCBs, dieldrin, mirex, and DDE concentrations decreased in livers. By the end of this period, in the early 1990s, the severity of goiter in Great Lakes birds had decreased, corresponding to the decreased concentrations of organochlorines (including PCBs; Fox et al, 1998).…”

Section: Environmental Contaminant Effects On Thyroidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Polychlorinated biphenyl effects on avian hepatic enzyme induction and thyroid function

Webb

McNabb

2008

General and Comparative Endocrinology

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Section: Historical Significance Of Pcbs In the Great Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Environmental Contaminant Effects On Thyroidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polychlorinated biphenyl effects on avian hepatic enzyme induction and thyroid function

Webb

McNabb

2008

General and Comparative Endocrinology

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“…As a result of regulatory action in both the United States and Canada to ban the manufacture or reduce the use of the persistent OCs, obvious mortality and morbidity among Great Lakes birds was considerably reduced by the mid 1980s (24). Reproductive success improved as measured by the number of fledging offspring per maternal animal, but in many instances the offspring were not, and still are not, surviving to adulthood (18,25).…”

Section: Theo Colbornmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of top predator fish, those fish that do survive to adulthood do not reproduce well or not at all. Without visible evidence of damage, biologists are now finding it far more difficult to determine the specific impairment that is causing the lack of recruitment in certain wildlife populations (24). Consequently, documentation is lacking in the contemporary literature concerning the less visible impacts of contaminants on wildlife such as reduced function and changes in behavior.…”

Section: Theo Colbornmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clues from wildlife to create an assay for thyroid system disruption.

Colborn

2002

Environ Health Perspect

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In 1996 the U.S. Congress charged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a screening program to test chemicals for their possible estrogenic and other endocrine effects. Shortly thereafter, the Chemical Guidelines Program of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Environmental Directorate organized a Task Force on Endocrine Disruption Testing and Assessment to coordinate development of internationally harmonized screening and testing protocols. Most of the research devoted to this effort has focused on detecting impaired estrogenicity, androgenicity, and/or steroidogenesis, with little progress toward developing assays to detect chemicals that might interfere with thyroid function. Despite the fact that wildlife biologists have been reporting abnormal thyroid gland development and unusual thyroid hormone (TH) and retinoid ratios in fish and birds since the early 1960s, few studies have demonstrated an association between an environmental contaminant and a particular health end point other than reduced reproductive success at the population level. This article is a review of the literature that specifically examines THs and their role in normal behavior and development in wildlife. It presents several studies that associated changes in the thyroid gland, TH concentrations, and behavior with contaminant exposure. The goal of this article is to provide fodder for the creation of simple screens to detect possible thyroid system agonists and antagonists.

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“…In other ecosystems, fisheating birds such as gulls, terns, herons, and cormorants have been shown to be excellent sentinel species to assess and monitor the impacts of persistent contaminants. Detailed reproductive and health effect studies of contaminants have been conducted in these species, especially the herring gull, for more than three decades in the Great Lakes [6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immunological and reproductive health assessment in herring gulls and black‐crowned night herons in the Hudson–Raritan Estuary

Grasman

Echols

May

et al. 2013

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Abstract-Previous studies have shown inexplicable declines in breeding waterbirds within western New York/New Jersey Harbor between 1996 and 2002 and elevated polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) eggs. The present study assessed associations between immune function, prefledgling survival, and selected organochlorine compounds and metals in herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) in lower New York Harbor during 2003. In pipping gull embryos, lymphoid cells were counted in the thymus and bursa of Fabricius (sites of T and B lymphocyte maturation, respectively). The phytohemagglutinin (PHA) skin response assessed T cell function in gull and heron chicks. Lymphocyte proliferation was measured in vitro in adult and prefledgling gulls. Reference data came from the Great Lakes and Bay of Fundy. Survival of prefledgling gulls was poor, with only 0.68 and 0.5 chicks per nest surviving to three and four weeks after hatch, respectively. Developing lymphoid cells were reduced 51% in the thymus and 42% in the bursa of gull embryos from New York Harbor. In vitro lymphocyte assays demonstrated reduced spontaneous proliferation, reduced T cell mitogen-induced proliferation, and increased B cell mitogen-induced proliferation in gull chicks from New York Harbor. The PHA skin response was suppressed 70 to 80% in gull and heron chicks. Strong negative correlations (r ¼ -0.95 to -0.98) between the PHA response and dioxins and PCBs in gull livers was strong evidence suggesting that these chemicals contribute significantly to immunosuppression in New York Harbor waterbirds. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2013;32:548-561. # 2012 SETAC

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Monitoring the Elimination of Persistent Toxic Substances from the Great Lakes; Chemical and Physiological Evidence from Adult Herring Gulls

Cited by 23 publications

References 40 publications

Polychlorinated biphenyl effects on avian hepatic enzyme induction and thyroid function

Polychlorinated biphenyl effects on avian hepatic enzyme induction and thyroid function

Clues from wildlife to create an assay for thyroid system disruption.

Immunological and reproductive health assessment in herring gulls and black‐crowned night herons in the Hudson–Raritan Estuary

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