| 1. |
- Augustsson, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Challenges in assessing the health risks of consuming vegetables in metal-contaminated environments
- 2018
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 113, s. 269-280
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A great deal of research has been devoted to the characterization of metal exposure due to the consumption of vegetables from urban or industrialized areas. It may seem comforting that concentrations in crops, as well as estimated exposure levels, are often found to be below permissible limits. However, we show that even a moderate increase in metal accumulation in crops may result in a significant increase in exposure. We also highlight the importance of assessing exposure levels in relation to a regional baseline. We have analyzed metal (Pb, Cd, As) concentrations in nearly 700 samples from 23 different vegetables, fruits, berries and mushrooms, collected near 21 highly contaminated industrial sites and from reference sites. Metal concentrations generally complied with permissible levels in commercial food and only Pb showed overall higher concentrations around the contaminated sites. Nevertheless, probabilistic exposure assessments revealed that the exposure to all three metals was significantly higher in the population residing around the contaminated sites, for both low-, medianand high consumers. The exposure was about twice as high for Pb and Cd, and four to six times as high for As. Since vegetable consumption alone did not result in exposure above tolerable intakes, it would have been easy to conclude that there is no risk associated with consuming vegetables grown near the contaminated sites. However, when the increase in exposure is quantified, its potential significance is harder to dismiss - especially when considering that exposure via other routes may be elevated in a similar way.
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| 5. |
- Schmidt, Britta, et al.
(författare)
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Liver histopathology of Baltic grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) over three decades
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The liver plays an important role in the metabolism and elimination of endogenic and exogenic lipid-solublecompounds. Multiple studies have shown that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane(DDT) lead to morphological changes in liver cells. The aim of the present study was therefore toanalyse liver changes over time in Baltic grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) and to correlate these with historical PCBand DDT contaminations. A total of 191 liver samples were collected between 1981 and 2015 in the Gulf ofBothnia and northern Baltic Proper. Six histological features were evaluated, including portal mononuclear cellinfiltration, random mononuclear cell infiltration, lipid granulomas, hepatocellular fat vacuoles, hepatic stellatecells and mild multifocal bile duct hyperplasia accompanied by portal fibrosis. Three of the six lesions showed asignificant correlation with age. Furthermore, a positive correlation between portal mononuclear cell infiltrationand mild multifocal bile duct hyperplasia was found. Additionally, lipid granulomas were significantly correlatedwith hepatic stellate cells. More importantly, hepatic stellate cells and mild multifocal bile duct hyperplasia werecorrelated with adipose tissue (blubber) concentrations of ƩPCB, measured in a subsample (n = 34) of all individuals.No correlation with lesions and ƩDDT concentrations were found. These results show that age is animportant factor for the development of these liver lesions, but PCBs burden may be an influencing factor. This isin agreement with previous studies of marine mammals in the Baltic Sea as well as in the Arctic. We thereforeconclude that not only age of the animals, but also exposure to PCBs should be taken into account when understandingand evaluating the current health status of Baltic grey seals.
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| 6. |
- Schmidt, Britta, et al.
(författare)
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Variation in skull bone mineral density of ringed seals (Phoca hispida) from the Gulf of Bothnia and West Greenland between 1829 and 2019
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bone is remodelled constantly through a balance of bone formation and resorption. This process can be affectedby various factors such as hormones, vitamins, nutrients and environmental factors, which can create an imbalanceresulting in systemic or local bone alteration. The aim of the present study was to analyse the changes in bone mineral density (BMD) over time in skulls of ringed seals (Pusa hispida) from the Baltic and Greenland using museum samples. Overall, 303 skulls (102 Male, 89 Female, 112 unknown) were used for bone investigationsand were divided into three periods according to collection year: before 1958 (n = 167), between 1958 and 1989 (n=40) and after 1994 up to 2019 (n=96). All skulls were examined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometryto obtain the BMD. Skull BMD of the Baltic seals was positively correlated with the historical polychlorinatedbiphenyls (PCB) contamination having potential effects on the constitution of bones. BMD fluctuated between the three study periods (LM: p-value < 0.001, F-value = 47.5) with the lowest BMD found between 1897 and 1957, in the Gulf of Bothnia, where the highest peak of contaminant concentration was in the second period. BMD levels increased with increasing PCB concentration (LM: p < 0.001). The Greenland population showed significant lower BMD levels in the pollution and post-pollution period than the Baltic population (LM:p < 0.001). It also revealed a higher BMD in males than in females (LM: p=0.03). In conclusion, the variations between 1829 and 2019 in the Baltic Sea and Greenland may to a certain extent reflect normal fluctuations; however, this study revealed several factors affecting BMD, including sex and PCB levels.
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| 7. |
- Silva, William, et al.
(författare)
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Life cycle bioenergetics of the gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) in the Baltic Sea: Population response to environmental stress
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 145
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wildlife population dynamics are shaped by multiple natural and anthropogenic factors, including predation, competition, stressful life history events, and external environmental stressors such as diseases and pollution. Marine mammals such as gray seals rely on extensive blubber layers for insulation and energy storage, making this tissue critical for survival and reproduction. This lipid rich blubber layer also accumulates hazardous fat soluble pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), that can directly impact adipose function or be mobilized during periods of negative energy balance or transferred to offspring to exert further impacts on target tissues or vulnerable life stages. To predict how marine mammals will respond to ecological and anthropogenic stressors, it is necessary to use process-based modelling approaches that integrate environmental inputs, full species life history, and stressor impacts with individual dynamics of energy intake, storage, and utilization. The purpose of this study was to develop a full lifecycle dynamic energy budget and individual based model (DEB-IBM) that captured Baltic gray seal physiology and life history, and showcase potential applications of the model to predict population responses to select stressors known to threaten gray seals and other marine mammals around the world. We explore variations of three ecologically important stressors using phenomenological simulations: food limitation, endocrine disrupting chemicals that reduce fertility, and infectious disease. Using our calibrated DEB-IBM for Baltic gray seals, we found that continuous incremental food limitation can be more detrimental to population size than short random events of starvation, and further, that the effect of endocrine disruptors on population growth and structure is delayed due to bioaccumulation, and that communicable diseases significantly decrease population growth even when spillover events are relatively less frequent. One important finding is the delayed effect on population growth rate from some stressors, several years after the exposure period, resulting from a decline in somatic growth, increased age at maturation and decreased fecundity. Such delayed responses are ignored in current models of population viability and can be important in the correct assessment of population extinction risks. The model presented here provides a test bed on which effects of new hazardous substances and different scenarios of future environmental change affecting food availability and/or seal energetic demands can be investigated. Thus, the framework provides a tool for better understanding how diverse environmental stressors affect marine mammal populations and can be used to guide scientifically based management.
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| 8. |
- Sonne, Christian, et al.
(författare)
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A review of pathogens in selected Baltic Sea indicator species
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750.
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here we review the state-of-the-art of pathogens in select marine and terrestrial key species of the Baltic Sea, i.e.ringed seal (Pusa hispida), harbour seal (Phoca vitulina), grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), harbour porpoise(Phocoena phocoena), common eider (Somateria mollissima), pink-footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus) and whitetailedeagle (Haliaeetus albicilla). This review is the first to merge and present available information and baselinedata for the FP7 BONUS BaltHealth project: Baltic Sea multilevel health impacts on key species of anthropogenichazardous substances. Understanding the spread, prevalence and effects of wildlife pathogens is important for theunderstanding of animal and ecosystem health, ecosystem function and services, as well as human exposure tozoonotic diseases. This review summarises the occurrence of parasites, viruses and bacteria over the past sixdecades, including severe outbreaks of Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV), the seroprevalence of Influenza A andthe recent increase in seal parasites. We show that Baltic high trophic key species are exposed to multiplebacterial, viral and parasitic diseases. Parasites, such as C. semerme and P. truncatum present in the colon andliver Baltic grey seals, respectively, and anisakid nematodes require particular monitoring due to their effects onanimal health. In addition, distribution of existing viral and bacterial pathogens, along with the emergence andspread of new pathogens, need to be monitored in order to assess the health status of key Baltic species. Relevantbacteria are Streptococcus spp., Brucella spp., Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, Mycoplasma spp. and Leptospira interrogans;relevant viruses are influenza virus, distemper virus, pox virus and herpes virus. This is of special importanceas some of the occurring pathogens are zoonotic and thus also pose a potential risk for human health.Marine mammal handlers, as well as civilians that by chance encounter marine mammals, need to be aware ofthis risk. It is therefore important to continue the monitoring of diseases affecting key Baltic species in order toassess their relationship to population dynamics and their potential threat to humans. These infectious agents arevaluable indicators of host ecology and can act as bioindicators of distribution, migration, diet and behaviour ofmarine mammals and birds, as well as of climate change and changes in food web dynamics. In addition, infectiousdiseases are linked to pollutant exposure, overexploitation, immune suppression and subsequent inflammatorydisease. Ultimately, these diseases affect the health of the entire ecosystem and, consequently,ecosystem function and services. As global warming is continuously increasing, the impact of global change oninfectious disease patterns is important to monitor in Baltic key species in the future.
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| 9. |
- Sonne, C., et al.
(författare)
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Health effects from contaminant exposure in Baltic Sea birds and marine mammals: A review
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here we review contaminant exposure and related health effects in six selected Baltic key species. Sentinel species included are common eider, white-tailed eagle, harbour porpoise, harbour seal, ringed seal and grey seal. The review represents the first attempt of summarizing available information and baseline data for these biomonitoring key species exposed to industrial hazardous substances focusing on anthropogenic persistent organic pollutants (POPs). There was only limited information available for white-tailed eagles and common eider while extensive information exist on POP exposure and health effects in the four marine mammal species. Here we report organ-tissue endpoints (pathologies) and multiple biomarkers used to evaluate health and exposure of key species to POPs, respectively, over the past several decades during which episodes of significant population declines have been reported. Our review shows that POP exposure affects the reproductive system and survival through immune suppression and endocrine disruption, which have led to population-level effects on seals and white-tailed eagles in the Baltic. It is notable that many legacy contaminants, which have been banned for decades, still appear to affect Baltic wildlife. With respect to common eiders, changes in food composition, quality and contaminant exposure seem to have population effects which need to be investigated further, especially during the incubation period where the birds fast. Since new industrial contaminants continuously leak into the environment, we recommend continued monitoring of them in sentinel species in the Baltic, identifying possible effects linked to climate change, and modelling of population level effects of contaminants and climate change. © 2020 The Authors
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| 10. |
- Sun, Jiachen, et al.
(författare)
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Temporal trends of legacy organochlorines in different white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) subpopulations: A retrospective investigation using archived feathers
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment International. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 138, s. 1-10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of legacy organochlorines (OCs) is often difficult because monitoringpractices differ among studies, fragmented study periods, and unaccounted confounding by ecological variables.We therefore reconstructed long-term (1939–2015) and large-scale (West Greenland, Norway, and centralSweden) trends of major legacy OCs using white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) body feathers, to understandthe exposure dynamics in regions with different contamination sources and concentrations, as well as the effectiveness of legislations. We included dietary proxies (δ13C and δ15N) in temporal trend models to control forpotential dietary plasticity. Consistent with the hypothesised high local pollution sources, levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) inthe Swedish subpopulation exceeded those in the other subpopulations. In contrast, chlordanes (CHLs) andhexachlorobenzene (HCB) showed higher concentrations in Greenland, suggesting the importance of long-rangetransport. The models showed significantly decreasing trends for all OCs in Sweden in 1968–2011 except forCHLs, which only decreased since the 1980s. Nevertheless, median concentrations of DDTs and PCBs remainedelevated in the Swedish subpopulation throughout the 1970s, suggesting that the decreases only commencedafter the implementation of regulations during the 1970s. We observed significant trends of increasing concentrations of PCBs, CHLs and HCB in Norway from the 1930s to the 1970s/1980s and decreasing concentrationsthereafter. All OC concentrations, except those of PCBs were generally significantly decreasing in the Greenlandsubpopulation in 1985-2013. All three subpopulations showed generally increasing proportions of the morepersistent compounds (CB 153, p.p′-DDE and β-HCH) and decreasing proportions of the less persistent ones (CB52, p.p′-DDT, α- and γ-HCH). Declining trends of OC concentrations may imply the decreasing influence of legacyOCs in these subpopulations. Finally, our results demonstrate the usefulness of archived museum feathers inretrospective monitoring of spatiotemporal trends of legacy OCs using birds of prey as sentinels.
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