Ecological consequences of environmental contaminants in a marine sentinel species: A multiple stressor approach
Informations
- Funding country
Norway- Acronym
- -
- URL
- -
- Start date
- 1/1/2016
- End date
- 12/31/2018
- Budget
- 612,663 EUR
Fundings
| Name | Role | Start | End | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marine Resources and the Environment (MARINFORSK) - call 2016 | Grant | - | - | 612,663 EUR |
Abstract
The marine environment is a sink and transport route for pollution, and marine top predators are characterized by relatively high levels of biomagnifying organic contaminants and mercury. As such, they represent good biological models to assess the impact of pollutants on ecosystem health. The project has explored potential impacts of pollutant exposure in a sentinel top predator : the white-tailed eagle, within a multi-stressor framework. The project has investigated the magnitude and composition of legacy and emerging contaminants, and identify biogeochemical proxies for underlying dietary pathways in different regions of the white-tailed eagle distribution. Moreover, we aimed to identify consistent biomarkers of stress in relation to pollutant exposure in different white-tailed eagle subpopulations. Finally, we have combined long-term population data on reproduction and density with multi-stressor data such as contaminant exposure, variability in dietary ecology, climate, and stress biomarkers, in central geographical white-tailed eagle subpopulations. Hence, statistical analyses of the above empirical data are integrated with theoretical models, where impacts at the individual level will be translated into wider population-level effects. This enables an approach where we can explore potential ecological effects of contaminants in a hierarchical fashion going from physiology through individual life-histories to population dynamics.