Occurrence and Health Impacts of Legacy and Novel Environmental Contaminants in the Endangered St.Lawrence Estuary Beluga

濒临灭绝的圣劳伦斯河口白鲸（Delphinapterus leucas）生活在受上游人类活动严重影响的海洋生态系统中。这个只有大约900人的小种群在过去的几十年里没有任何复苏的迹象。近年来，甚至观察到产后母畜和小牛死亡率增加。高污染物暴露对白鲸的健康和种群的恢复是一个重要的威胁。了解白鲸暴露于已知和新的污染物，以及它们可能的污染相关影响，是确保保护这一最南端白鲸种群的关键因素。该项目将有助于描绘白鲸组织中优先关注的污染物的浓度、营养转移和分布的全球图景。还将开发和分析组织中发现的所有化学物质的一般筛选，以使用创新的非靶向方法识别任何感兴趣的新物质。创新的新蛋白质组学和转录组学技术将用于确定除了一系列目标健康变量之外，可能受到环境污染物暴露影响的生物途径。为了更好地了解化学品暴露的潜在影响，还将研究污染物浓度与生物终点之间的关系。体外测试和建模将完成这项研究，以评估白鲸污染物的生物效应。该项目产生的结果将有助于填补关于环境污染物及其对SLE白鲸种群的潜在影响的关键知识空白。这些信息将支持这一独特的白鲸种群的决策、管理和保护战略。多学科和多元化的专家团队将培养下一代海洋哺乳动物和环境毒理学专家。

The endangered St. Lawrence Estuary beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) inhabits a marine ecosystem greatlyimpacted by upstream anthropogenic activities. This small population of around 900 individuals has not shownany sign of recovery in the past decades. An increase in the number of post-partum females and calvesmortality has even been observed in recent years. The high contaminant exposure of belugas was suggested asone important threat to the health of belugas and the recovery of this population. Understanding the exposure ofbelugas to known and new contaminants as well as their possible exposure-related effects are key elements toensure the conservation of this southernmost beluga population. This project will contribute to dress a globalpicture of the concentrations, trophic transfer and distribution of contaminants of priority concern in tissues ofbelugas. A general screening of all chemicals found in tissues will also be developed and analyzed to identifyany new substances of interest using innovative non-targeted methods. Innovative new proteomic andtranscriptomic techniques will be used to determine biological pathways that may be impacted by exposure toenvironmental contaminants in addition to a series of targeted health variables. Relationships betweencontaminant concentrations and biological endpoints will also be conducted in order to better understand thepotential effects of the chemical exposure. In vitro testing and modelling will complete this research to evaluatebiological effects of contaminants in beluga. Results generated from this project will help fill criticalknowledge gaps on environmental contaminants and their potential effects in the SLE beluga population. Theinformation will support the decision-making, management and conservation strategies of this unique belugawhale population. The multi-disciplinary and diversified expert team will be training the next generation ofmarine mammal and environmental toxicology specialists.