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Biological threats and environmental pollutants, a lethal mixture for mediterranean cetaceans?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2013

Giancarlo Lauriano ,
Giovanni Di Guardo ,
Letizia Marsili ,
Silvia Maltese  and
Maria Cristina Fossi
Giancarlo Lauriano*
Affiliation:
Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Via V. Brancati 60 00144 Rome, Italy
Giovanni Di Guardo
Affiliation:
University of Teramo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Piazza Aldo Moro, 45-64100, Teramo, Italy
Letizia Marsili
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy
Silvia Maltese
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy
Maria Cristina Fossi
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100, Siena, Italy
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: G. Lauriano, Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Via V. Brancati 60 00144 Rome, Italy email: giancarlo.lauriano@isprambiente.it
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Abstract

The possible existence of any cause–effect relationships between the concentrations of organochlorines (OCs) and the presence of Morbillivirus and Toxoplasma gondii infections was investigated in both free-living and stranded specimens of Stenella coeruleoalba, Tursiops truncatus, Globicephala melas, Balaenoptera physalus and Physeter macrocephalus from the Mediterranean Sea. High blubber concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) were recorded in free-ranging G. melas. Tissue concentrations of PCBs and DDT in stranded T. truncatus (367 lipid weight (l.w.) and 143.7 mg/kg l.w., respectively) and S. coeruleoalba (139.9 l.w.; 92.9 mg/kg l.w.) were beyond the PCB threshold value for the appearance of adverse effects in marine mammals. Evidence of T. gondii infection was molecularly detected in three S. coeruleoalba and six T. truncatus.

Keywords

environmental toxicologypollution monitoringorganochlorinesMorbillivirusToxoplasma gondiidiseasecetaceansMediterranean Sea
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 94 , Issue 6 , September 2014 , pp. 1221 - 1225
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

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