Journal
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
Volume 76, Issue 1-2, Pages 158-169Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.09.008
Keywords
Trace element; Bioaccumulation; Skin; Blubber; Biopsy; Cetaceans
Funding
- Contrat de Plan Etat Region [CPER 13]
- Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology of the Government of Portugal [SFRH/BD/36766/2007]
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [SFRH/BD/36766/2007] Funding Source: FCT
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In order to evaluate the use of biopsy samples as non-destructive tool for assessing trace element concentrations in small cetaceans, the concentrations of 14 trace elements were determined in skin, blubber, liver and kidneys of four species of small cetaceans (i.e. common dolphin Delphinus delphis, harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena, bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus and striped dolphin Stenella coeruleolba), stranded and/or by-caught along the NE Atlantic Ocean coast between 2001 and 2008. Only Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni and Zn were above the detection limit of the instruments and showed recoveries satisfactory enough to be interpreted. Among these trace elements, Hg was the only one showing a significant correlation between concentrations in and those in liver and kidneys. In consequence skin and blubber can only be used as non-invasive monitoring tissues to investigate Hg bioaccumulation in internal tissues for cetacean populations. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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