Effects of Avian Eggshell Oiling With Diluted Bitumen Show Sublethal Embryonic Polycyclic Aromatic Compound Exposure.

ABSTRACT: Breeding birds that become oiled may contaminate the shells of their eggs, and studies of conventional crude oil suggest that even small quantities can be absorbed through the eggshell and cause embryotoxicity. Unconventional crude oils remain untested, so we evaluated whether a major Canadian oil sands product, diluted bitumen (dilbit), would be absorbed and cause toxicity when applied to eggshells of two species, domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) and double-crested cormorant (Nannopterum auritum). We artificially incubated eggs and applied lightly weathered dilbit (Cold Lake blend) to the eggshells (0.015-0.15 mg g^-1 egg in chicken; 0.1-0.4 mg g^-1 egg in cormorant) at various points during incubation before sampling prehatch embryos. Polycyclic aromatic co

SUBMITTER: King MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9299908 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature