Toxicological effects of petroleum hydrocarbons and other persistent contaminants in marine birds and laboratory model species

加拿大的海岸线是复杂的生态系统， 国际重要的海鸟种群。人类活动构成 对海洋和河口鸟类的多重压力。作为顶级掠食者，海鸟 暴露在过多的持久性商业化学品中， 食物链例如滴滴涕和多氯联苯等遗留化学品， 影响内分泌和其他生理功能，危及生存， 人口的再生产。最近阻燃溴化化学品和氟化 Scotch Guard和Teflon等产品中使用的化合物已经污染了 全世界的食物链海洋和食肉鸟类是污染最严重的 这些化学品。通过国内法规取得了很大进展， 加拿大并通过《关于持久性有机污染物的斯德哥尔摩协定》等国际条约， 有机污染物，减少污染。然而，大型水库仍然存在， 环境保护对化学品的商业需求仍在继续， 亚洲和拉丁美洲正在生产替代化合物 这些国家的环境法规往往不那么严格。海鸟 也极易受到石油污染的影响， 运输和意外泄漏。加拿大是一个主要的生产国和出口国， 石油产品与海洋生产和航运从纽芬兰 书架加拿大的大部分产品现在是以油砂沥青的形式生产的 从阿尔伯塔主要是管道到美国，然而，两个新的管道 计划将沥青运往英国北方和南部的港口 哥伦比亚号将被装上油轮并出口。 此外，随着气候变化的继续， 随着北极的融化，石油的勘探和生产将扩大， 北方航道将开放，对敏感的北极地区构成更大的风险。 系统.石油产品的长期释放似乎不可避免 进入加拿大的海洋环境只会增加， 这将是一场灾难性的后果。石油影响 海鸟的羽毛和直接和长期摄入的 泄漏石油和残余碳氢化合物污染物。尽管过去的研究，工具 用于评估油衍生碳氢化合物的慢性毒理学影响的 还没有很好的发展。但是，这种漏油对环境造成长期影响的证据， 海鸟可能是证明野生动物遭受持续伤害的基础 资源在这里的研究中，我建议利用无线电和 遥测技术和分子生物学。 远程 跟踪工具将用于评估空间移动和暴露 海洋鸟类对污染物，包括石油。其次，我建议应用小说 以DNA基因阵列形式的分子技术来测试 对哨兵海鸟物种造成无数化学压力的原因。

Canada's coastlines are complex ecosystems providing habitat for internationally important seabird populations. Human activities pose multiple stresses on marine and estuarine birds. As top predators, seabirds are exposed to a plethora of persistent commercial chemicals which bioaccumulate in food chains. Examples include legacy chemicals such as DDT and PCBs which can affect endocrine and other physiological functions and compromise survival and reproduction of populations. Recently flame retardant brominated chemicals and fluorinated compounds used in products such as Scotch guard and Teflon have contaminated food chains worldwide. Marine and predatory birds are among the most contaminated with those chemicals. Much progress has been made via domestic regulations in Canada and via international treaties such as the Stockholm Agreement on Persistent Organic Pollutants to reduce contamination. However, large reservoirs persist in the environment. Commercial demand for chemicals continues, with much of the development and production of replacement compounds taking place in Asian and Latin American countries, often with less stringent environmental regulations. Marine birds are also extremely vulnerable to oil pollution via both chronic release from shipping and from accidental spills. Canada is a major producer and exporter of petroleum products with marine production and shipping from the Newfoundland shelf. The bulk of Canadian production is now in the form of oil sands bitumen from Alberta which is mainly pipelined to the U.S. However, two new pipeline proposals intend to ship bitumen to ports in northern and southern British Columbia to be loaded onto tankers and exported. Furthermore, as climate change continues driving a thawing arctic, exploration and production of oil will expand, and northern shipping lanes will open, posing an increased risk to sensitive arctic systems. It seems inevitable that the chronic release of petroleum products into Canada's marine environments will only increase as will the risk of a major spill which would have devastating consequences. Petroleum affects seabirds by both oiling of plumage and by immediate and chronic ingestion of spilt oil and residual hydrocarbon contaminants. Despite past research, tools for assessing the chronic toxicological impact of oil derived hydrocarbons are still not well developed. But such evidence of chronic effects of spilt oil on seabirds could be fundamental to proof of sustained injury to wildlife resources. For the research here, I propose to use advances in both radio telemetry and molecular biology. Remote tracking tools will be used to assess the spatial movement and exposure of marine birds to contaminants, including oil. Secondly I propose to apply novel molecular techniques in the form of DNA gene arrays to test the subtle effects of those myriad chemical stressors on sentinel seabird species.