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，为国际上重要的海鸟种群提供栖息地。人类活动对海洋和河口鸟类造成多重压力。作为顶级捕食者，海鸟暴露在过多的持久性商业化学物质中，这些化学物质在食物链中生物积累。例如，滴滴涕和多氯联苯等遗留化学物质会影响内分泌和其他生理功能，并危及种群的生存和繁殖。最近，苏格兰威士忌和特氟龙等产品中使用的阻燃溴化物和含氟化合物污染了世界各地的食物链。海洋和捕食性鸟类是受这些化学物质污染最严重的鸟类之一。通过加拿大国内法规和诸如《关于持久性有机污染物的斯德哥尔摩协定》等国际条约减少污染，已经取得了很大进展。然而，大型水库仍然存在于环境中。对化学品的商业需求仍在继续，大部分替代化合物的开发和生产都在亚洲和拉丁美洲*国家进行，往往没有那么严格的环境法规。海洋鸟类也非常容易受到石油污染的影响，无论是从航运中长期释放出来的，还是从意外泄漏中释放出来的。加拿大是石油产品的主要生产国和出口国，这些石油产品从纽芬兰大陆架进行海洋生产和运输。加拿大的大部分生产现在是以来自艾伯塔省的油砂沥青的形式*，主要是通过管道输送到美国。然而，两个新的管道*提案打算将沥青运输到不列颠哥伦比亚省北部和南部的港口，然后装载到油轮上并出口。此外，随着气候变化继续推动北极融化，石油勘探和生产将扩大，北方航道将开放，对敏感的北极系统构成更大的风险。似乎不可避免的是，石油产品长期排放到加拿大海洋环境中只会增加发生重大泄漏的风险，这将造成毁灭性的后果。石油对海鸟的影响既是通过给羽毛上油，也是通过立即和长期摄入溢出的石油和残留的碳氢化合物污染物。尽管过去有过研究，但用于评估石油衍生碳氢化合物的慢性毒理学影响的工具*仍然没有得到很好的开发。但这种泄漏石油对海鸟造成长期影响的证据，可能是证明野生动物资源受到持续伤害的基础。对于这里的研究，我建议使用无线电遥测和分子生物学方面的进展。远程跟踪工具将被用来评估海洋鸟类对包括石油在内的污染物的空间移动和暴露。其次，我建议以DNA基因阵列的形式应用新的*分子技术来测试那些无数的化学应激源对哨兵海鸟物种的微妙影响。

****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.******