RESIDUES OF ORGANOCHLORINE INSECTICIDES IN EUROPEAN KESTRELS (<i>FALCO TINNUNCULUS</i>) FROM MURCIA REGION.
Abstract
Murcia Region (Southeastern Spain) is a mainly agricultural zone where the use of pesticides, including organochlorine insecticides, has been and it is still very intense. The use of most of organochlorine insecticides has been restricted or banned, however they are detected in all living beings due to their persistence in the environment and their potential for biological accumulation. The use of wild birds as biomonitoring units of the environmental pollution is very extended, mainly the studies that use raptors by the importance of these exposures on the reproductive function. We chosen European kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) as biomonitoring species for several reasons: their position in the upper of food chain; because insects and other invertebrates are important in its diet; because of their relative abundance with respect to other raptors in Murcia; and because this species is useful as indicator of Lesser kestrels (Falco naummani) which is in regression in Spain. In the present study we measured liver, brain and fat levels of 15 different organochlorine compounds in 29 kestrels. Closed to 100% of the animals sampled contained traces of p,p’-DDE, endrin, d-HCH and heptachlore. About 50% of the birds had traces of lindane and 60% had traces of endosulfan. a-HCH, ß-HCH, aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlore epoxide, p,p’-DDT and p,p’-DDD presented low frequencies of appearance (< 20%). The highest organochlorine concentrations comprised p,p’-DDE (mean total concentration = 0.95 mg/kg), endrin (0.3 mg/kg) and d-HCH (0.12 mg/kg). The mean total concentrations of the rest of substances were each lower than 0.1 mg/kg. These results revealed a low exposure to these compounds, probably as consequence of the use of alternative nonorganochlorine pesticides after their prohibitions on the eighties. We also observed an age-dependent increase in tissue organochlorine concentrations.Downloads
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