Organochlorine Compounds (pesticides and PCBs) in Scats of the European Otter (Lutra lutra) from an Actual Expanding Population in Central France

Abstract

Scats of the European otter (Lutra lutra) were sampled along the Allier river (France) catchment for organochlorine toxic compounds (nine pesticides and 16 PCBs congeners) measurement. From early 2004 to June 2005, 90 sites of 40 rivers were twice investigated, and 71 scats samples collected, in four geographical areas being naturally re-colonized by the species since its legal protection. Detectable pesticides and PCBs were found in 100% of the samples. Mean values reached 2.72 and 13.58 mg kg −1 (lipid weight) for pesticides and PCBs, respectively. Amounts were significantly different between the four areas investigated. A significant increase in medium and absolute values is noted by going downstream of the catchment. Potential medium-and long-term consequences on the observed population increase are discussed.

Animal decisions and conservation: the recolonization of a severely polluted river by the Eurasian otter

“…in Lu. lutra: Mason et al, 1992;Mason & Macdonald, 1994;van den Brink & Jansman, 2006;Lemarchand et al, 2007;in Lo. canadensis: Elliott et al, 2008), but also for some metals, such as Hg (e.g.…”

Semi Aquatic Top-Predators as Sentinels of Diversity and Dynamics of Pesticides in Aquatic Food Webs: The Case of Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra) and Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) in Loire River Catchment, France

“…OC pesticides and especially DDT metabolites were detected in all (100%) of the analyzed otters, confirming the widespread exposure of otter habitat in France to OC pesticides (Colas et al 2006;Lemarchand et al 2007Lemarchand et al , 2010. Mean concentrations of total OC pesticides in otter liver of the whole Loire River catchment reached 2,2 mg.kg -1 lipid weight, without any statistical variations with the geographical origin of the individuals: the increase in concentrations by going downstream observed in the upper part of the catchment was not significant at the whole catchment scale.…”

“…Two ml of fuming sulphuric acid (SO 3 7%) were added, and after centrifugation at 4x g, 1 ml of the supernatant was used for OC pesticides quantification by gas chromatography with electron capture detection material. Temperature program and injection conditions are described in Lemarchand et al (2007;. Each sample was run in duplicate.…”

“…Geometric means of lindane, endosulfan, DDE, DDD, DDT, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxyde, aldrin and metoxychlor were summed to provide the sum of pesticide concentrations (Σ Pesticides). All these were chosen by the National Veterinary School of Lyon (VetAgro Sup, France) standard protocol (Mazet et al 2005;Lemarchand et al 2007Lemarchand et al , 2010. The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare two independent samples, KruskallWallis for k comparisons, Spearman correlation rank test to quantify associations between two variables.…”

“…The risk of DDT flow into agricultural and www.intechopen.com Semi Aquatic Top-Predators as Sentinels of Diversity and Dynamics of Pesticides in Aquatic Food Webs: The Case of Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra) and Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) in Loire … 291 aquatic systems or wild environment of these countries was recently underlined (UNEP, 2008). Due to environmental stability and persistence of DDT and metabolites, and probably following post-ban use of old stocks, these compounds are still present in environment and were recently detected in otters or ospreys (Kannan et al 2004;Lemarchand et al 2007Lemarchand et al , 2010Henny et al 2008). For this latter species, continuing of DDT use in some developing countries is an additional threat during the wintering period.…”