Apex marine predators and ocean health: Proactive screening of halogenated organic contaminants reveals ecosystem indicator species.

ABSTRACT: Despite decades-long bans on the production and use of certain chemicals, many halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) are persistent and can bioaccumulate in the marine environment with the potential to cause physiological harm to marine fauna. Highly lipid-rich tissue (e.g., marine mammal blubber) functions as a reservoir for HOCs, and selecting ideal indicator species is a priority for retrospective and proactive screening efforts. We selected five marine mammal species as possible indicators for the Southern California Bight (SCB) and applied a non-targeted analytical method paired with an automated data reduction strategy to catalog a broad range of known, known but unexpected, and unknown compounds in their blubber. A total of 194 HOCs were detected across the study species (n = 25 indi

SUBMITTER: Cossaboon JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6392016 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature