Reduced breeding success of Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) in relation to persistent organochlorine pollution of aquatic habitats in The Netherlands

Dirksen, S.; Boudewijn, T.J.; Slager, L.K.; Mes, Ron; Schaick, M.J.M. van; Voogt, P. de

doi:10.1016/0269-7491(95)91435-n

Cited by 77 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…Whereas the familiar phenomenon of eggshell thinning and subsequent reproductive failure (Hickey and Anderson 1968) was generally attributed to dysfunction of the eggshell gland in mature females, subsequent mortality or reduced performance of many of those individuals that did not succumb to eggshell thinning suggests that toxicity of maternally derived contaminants was an additional mechanism by which reproductive success was reduced (Dirksen et al 1995, Fry 1995. Effects on offspring ranged from embryonic and juvenile mortality to morphological malformations that may hinder feeding (Fox et al 1991, Tillitt et al 1992.…”

Section: Physiological and Reproductive Traits And Risks Of Contaminamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Maternal transfer of contaminants to offspring has been well documented in long-lived species, including mammals (Aguilar and Borrell 1994, Henriksen et al 2001, Skaare et al 2002, Beckmen et al 2003, Schecter et al 2003, Hickie et al 2007), birds (Dirksen et al 1995, Ewins et al 1999, Hebert et al 2000, and reptiles (Bishop et al 1994, Rauschenberger et al 2004). Transfer of metals (such as selenium and mercury) has been observed in some species (e.g., Roe et al 2004), but most attention has focused on persistent synthetic compounds, particularly halogenated compounds such as PCBs and some pesticides.…”

Section: Physiological and Reproductive Traits And Risks Of Contaminamentioning

confidence: 99%

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“The Calamity of So Long Life”: Life Histories, Contaminants, and Potential Emerging Threats to Long-lived Vertebrates

Rowe¹

2008

BioScience

106

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Articles Reproductive fitness, the probability that an individual will produce viable offspring of equal or greater replacement value, provides an avenue by which environmental influences on individuals transcend to population and higher-order phenomena. Life history strategies represent the suite of traits that optimize reproductive fitness of individuals within the environmental and phylogenetic constraints imposed on the species during its evolutionary history. A species' life history strategy is shaped by trade-offs among alternative, attainable expressions of traits, including (but not limited to) life span; time to maturation; number of lifetime breeding events; and parental investment in offspring number, size or energy content, or care (Stearns 1989, Congdon et al. 2001. The combination of traits and the specific expressions that optimize fitness are unique to a species, yet have classically been broadly categorized as "r-selected" or "K-selected" life history strategies (Pianka 1970). While these categorizations represent theoretical extremes bounding a vast diversity of trait combinations found in nature, and thus no realized life history strategy represents an "ideal" r-or K-selected strategy, the categorizations are conceptually useful for broadly assessing potential environmental influences on fitness resulting from a particular life history strategy.Species that possess r-selected strategies tend to be opportunistic, short-lived, rapid to mature, and semelparous (breeding only once), producing large numbers of small offspring. Such species typically exploit rapidly changing environmental conditions and are capable of establishing populations quickly in novel environments (Pianka 1970). Relative to r-selected species, those employing K-selected life history strategies are long-lived, slow to mature, iteroparous (breeding multiple times), and typically make large per capita parental investments in few offspring during a given breeding event (Pianka 1970). This life history strategy is optimized for environmental conditions that on average are relatively stable over an individual's long reproductive lifetime, yet it is resilient to periodic, stochastic fluctuations in habitat quality that may compromise a given breeding event (a "bet-hedging" strategy; Stearns 1976).Persistent, synthetic contaminants were developed and have been used widely only in the past century, yet already their use has resulted in contamination of habitats on a global scale (e.g., Schwarzenbach et al. 2006). Synthetic compounds such as organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and brominated fire retardants (brominated diphenyl ethers, or BDEs) can persist in the environment for decades, Christopher L. Rowe (e-mail: rowe@cbl.umces.edu

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Section: Physiological and Reproductive Traits And Risks Of Contaminamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Physiological and Reproductive Traits And Risks Of Contaminamentioning

confidence: 99%

“The Calamity of So Long Life”: Life Histories, Contaminants, and Potential Emerging Threats to Long-lived Vertebrates

Rowe¹

2008

BioScience

106

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“…middle sized fish predominantly in the families cyprynidae and percidae, and to the ban on agricultural use of DDT-containing pesticides. The above compound bioaccumulated along the trophic chain and led to marked thinning of eggshells resulting in decreased hatching success in birds (Dirksen et al, 1995). The great cormorant is a true piscivorous bird that feeds on numerous species of fish and thus is exposed to a variety of parasites that use fish as intermediate hosts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathology associated with Contracaecum rudolphii (Nematoda: Anisakidae) infection in the great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo (L. 1758)

et al. 2011

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SummaryThis is a report of lesions associated with the nematode Contracaecum rudolphii (Nematoda: Anisakidae) from the proventriculus of the great cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo (L. 1758). The study was undertaken as part of a health monitoring program for P. carbo, which is endangered and thus protected within the European continent. Cormorants were collected by gun-shot from north-eastern Poland in the spring of 2006, four birds were necropsied on site and the gastrointestinal tract was examined for the presence of nematodes. The birds came from a region with noted increases in the cormorant population over the last decade. Esophageal and gastric sections with parasites in situ were fixed in formalin and processed routinely for paraffin embedding, stained with H&E and examined by brightfield microscopy. Parasite associated lesions consisted of severe, ulcerative gastritis at the attachment sites, and diffuse granulomatous gastritis in adjacent areas. Eosinophilic material speculated to be the parasite-derived excretory-secretory product was consistently forming the parasite-host boundry at the attachment points. Although the parasite-associated gastric lesions were focally severe, all examined birds appeared in good body condition. Because only four birds were investigated in this study, the potential contribution of C. rudolphii to morbidity and mortality in great cormorants needs to be examined further.

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“…The PCB females and males produced fewer fledglings than did control pairs, indicating that PCB effects occur through both sexes independently. Declines in fledging success have been observed in wild tree swallows (McCarty and Secord 1999), cormorants Dirksen et al 1995), and the captive kestrels directly exposed to dietary PCBs (Fernie et al 2000a). As seen in wild cormorants (Custer et al 1999), nestling kestrels died either at or within the first 3 days of hatching in kestrel pairs experiencing either in ovo or dietary PCB exposure (Fernie et al 2000a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…They also bioaccumulate through the food web (Hoffman et al 1996) and are potential endocrine-modulating substances (Koval et al 1987). Reproduction of wild passerines (McCarty and Secord 1999;Bishop et al 1999), raptorial (Kozie and Anderson 1991;Bowerman et al 1994;Giesy et al 1995;Hoffman et al 1998), and piscivorous Dirksen et al 1995;Custer et al 1999) birds has been altered by exposure to multiple contaminants, including PCBs. Most of these studies of wild birds have shown that there are contaminant effects at all levels, from compromised fertility and reduced hatching success of fertile eggs to diminished survival of young birds prior to or after fledging from the nest.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

In Ovo Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls: Reproductive Effects on Second-Generation American Kestrels

Fernie

Smits

Bortolotti

et al. 2001

Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology

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Abstract.The reproductive success of wild birds has been affected by exposure to multiple contaminants. Reproduction of captive American kestrels (Falco sparverius) was suppressed when adult birds were exposed to dietary polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In this study, the reproductive effects of in ovo exposure to PCBs is explored, along with determining effects on reproduction in second-generation birds indirectly exposed to PCBs. Reproductive changes in this subsequent generation are examined separately in male and female birds. Captive American kestrels (F. sparverius) were hatched from clutches with eggs containing environmentally relevant levels of total PCBs (34.0 g/g whole egg WW versus 0 g/g controls); parent birds had been fed PCB-spiked (Aroclor 1248:1254:1260) food (7 mg/kg BW day Ϫ1) for 100 days until their eggs hatched. In 1999, the second-generation PCB birds were paired with unexposed kestrels having reproductive experience. In ovo PCB exposure suppressed egg laying completely in 25% of PCB females and resulted in delays in clutch initiation and smaller clutch sizes for PCB male and female pairs. There was no evidence in this study of in ovo PCB treatment effects on fertility or hatching success. The decline in reproductive success was also reflected in the reduced fledging success and higher incidence of complete brood mortality of PCB nestlings. Differences between in ovo-exposed PCB males and females but not between controls were evident in reproductive success. In ovo PCB exposure appears to have had greater effects on female kestrels until clutch completion, with a greater time lag between pairing and egg laying, reduced numbers of pairs laying eggs, and smaller clutches being laid. In ovo PCB exposure has greater effects later in the breeding season on male kestrels, which had poorer hatching and fledging success relative to the PCB females. Possible behavioral and physiological mechanisms involved in these reproductive changes are discussed.

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Reduced breeding success of Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) in relation to persistent organochlorine pollution of aquatic habitats in The Netherlands

Cited by 77 publications

References 42 publications

“The Calamity of So Long Life”: Life Histories, Contaminants, and Potential Emerging Threats to Long-lived Vertebrates

“The Calamity of So Long Life”: Life Histories, Contaminants, and Potential Emerging Threats to Long-lived Vertebrates

Pathology associated with Contracaecum rudolphii (Nematoda: Anisakidae) infection in the great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo (L. 1758)

In Ovo Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls: Reproductive Effects on Second-Generation American Kestrels

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