PMID- 29573713
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20180726
LR  - 20181202
IS  - 1873-6424 (Electronic)
IS  - 0269-7491 (Linking)
VI  - 238
DP  - 2018 Jul
TI  - River otters (Lontra canadensis) "trapped" in a coastal environment contaminated 
      with persistent organic pollutants: Demographic and physiological consequences.
PG  - 306-316
LID - S0269-7491(17)34463-9 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.03.035 [doi]
AB  - Productive coastal and estuarine habitats can be degraded by contaminants 
      including persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs, dioxins, and 
      organochlorine insecticides to the extent of official designation as contaminated 
      sites. Top-predatory wildlife may continue to use such sites as the habitat often 
      appears suitable, and thus bioaccumulate POPs and other contaminants with 
      potential consequences on their health and fitness. Victoria and Esquimalt 
      harbours are located on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia (BC) and are 
      federally designated contaminated sites due mainly to past heavy industrial 
      activities, such as from shipyards and sawmills. We collected scat samples from 
      river otters (Lontra canadensis) throughout an annual cycle, and combined 
      chemical analysis with DNA genotyping to examine whether the harbour areas 
      constituted a contaminant-induced ecological trap for otters. We confirmed 
      spatial habitat use by radio telemetry of a subsample of otters. Fifteen percent 
      of otter scat contained PCB concentrations exceeding levels considered to have 
      adverse effects on the reproduction of mink (Neovison vison), and there were 
      significant positive correlations between concentrations of PCBs and of thyroid 
      (T3) and sex (progesterone) hormones in fecal samples. Radio telemetry data 
      revealed that otters did not show directional movement away from the harbours, 
      indicating their inability to recognize the contaminated site as a degraded 
      habitat. However, analysis and modeling of the DNA genotyping data provided no 
      evidence that the harbour otters formed a sink population and therefore were in 
      an ecological trap. Despite the highly POP-contaminated habitat, river otters did 
      not appear to be adversely impacted at the population level. Our study 
      demonstrates the value of combining chemical and biological technologies with 
      ecological theory to investigate practical conservation problems.
CI  - Crown Copyright (c) 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
FAU - Huang, Andrew C
AU  - Huang AC
AD  - Science & Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Delta, BC, 
      Canada.
FAU - Nelson, Cait
AU  - Nelson C
AD  - Avian Research Centre, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British 
      Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, 
      Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, Victoria, BC, Canada.
FAU - Elliott, John E
AU  - Elliott JE
AD  - Science & Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Delta, BC, 
      Canada; Avian Research Centre, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of 
      British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Electronic address: 
      john.elliott@canada.ca.
FAU - Guertin, Daniel A
AU  - Guertin DA
AD  - Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
FAU - Ritland, Carol
AU  - Ritland C
AD  - Genetic Data Centre, Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British 
      Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
FAU - Drouillard, Ken
AU  - Drouillard K
AD  - Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, 
      ON, Canada.
FAU - Cheng, Kimberly M
AU  - Cheng KM
AD  - Avian Research Centre, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British 
      Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
FAU - Schwantje, Helen M
AU  - Schwantje HM
AD  - British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and 
      Rural Development, Victoria, BC, Canada.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20180322
PL  - England
TA  - Environ Pollut
JT  - Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)
JID - 8804476
RN  - 0 (Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated)
RN  - 0 (Insecticides)
RN  - 0 (Water Pollutants, Chemical)
RN  - DFC2HB4I0K (Polychlorinated Biphenyls)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - British Columbia
MH  - Demography
MH  - *Environmental Monitoring
MH  - Feces/chemistry
MH  - Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated/analysis/metabolism
MH  - Insecticides/analysis/metabolism
MH  - Male
MH  - Mink
MH  - Otters/metabolism/*physiology
MH  - Polychlorinated Biphenyls/analysis/metabolism
MH  - Reproduction/drug effects
MH  - Rivers
MH  - Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis/*metabolism
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Coastal contaminated sites
OT  - Ecological trap
OT  - Fecal DNA genotyping
OT  - Hormone response
OT  - Persistent organic pollutants
OT  - River otter
EDAT- 2018/03/25 06:00
MHDA- 2018/07/27 06:00
CRDT- 2018/03/25 06:00
PHST- 2017/10/26 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2018/03/12 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2018/03/12 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2018/03/25 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2018/07/27 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2018/03/25 06:00 [entrez]
AID - S0269-7491(17)34463-9 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.03.035 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Environ Pollut. 2018 Jul;238:306-316. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.03.035. Epub 
      2018 Mar 22.