Biomedical subjects

Craig E Hebert

Publications and source records attributed to Craig E Hebert.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Ecological tracers can quantify food web structure and change.

Disruption of natural food webs is becoming a commonplace occurrence as a result of human activities. Considering this, there is a need to improve our ability to define food web structure as well as to detect and understand the implications of trophodynamic change. This requires the development, validation, and application of ecologicaltracers that can provide insights into the movement of energy, nutrients, and contaminants through food webs. In this study, we examine the utility of two groups of naturally occurring intrinsic tracers (stable nitrogen isotopes and fatty acids) to provide such information in a predatory seabird, the herring gull (Larus argentatus). Spatial and temporal patterns in gull trophic position (inferred from egg stable nitrogen isotope values) were related to gull diet composition (inferred from egg fatty acid concentrations). These two independent groups of ecological tracers provided corroborating evidence that gull trophic position was related to the degree to which aquatic foods, namely fish, were consumed. The use of these tracers in concert led to a better understanding of routes of energy flow and contaminant transfer in food webs and how these pathways may be affected by ecosystem change.

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PubMed2006

Adjusting for temporal change in trophic position results in reduced rates of contaminant decline.

The development of ecological tracers to track the flow of energy and nutrients through food webs has provided new insights into the factors that are important in regulating diet composition in wildlife. The Great Lakes Herring Gull Monitoring Program has provided information regarding temporal trends in levels of bioaccumulative contaminants since the early 1970s. In recent years, data from this program have also been generated to examine ecological changes in the Great Lakes. Because the contaminants that are evaluated as part of this program biomagnify, food is the primary determinant of contaminant concentrations in the eggs that are analyzed annually. Fluctuations in diet composition could affect the interpretation of temporal trends by affecting exposure to contaminants. Retrospective analyses involving ecological tracers, i.e., stable nitrogen isotopes and fatty acids, have shown temporal change in the diets of Great Lakes herring gulls at some monitoring colonies. These dietary differences have led to temporal variation in the trophic position of herring gulls. Given that higher trophic level organisms incur greater exposure to biomagnifying contaminants, it is necessary to adjust for these temporal changes in trophic position to get an accurate indication of how contaminant burdens are changing within the Great Lakes ecosystem. Here, we outline a method to adjust for temporal changes in indicator species trophic position and discuss how these adjustments affect the interpretation of contaminant temporal trend monitoring data.

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PubMed2006

Comprehensive re-analysis of archived herring gull eggs reconstructs historical temporal trends in chlorinated hydrocarbon contamination in Lake Ontario and Green Bay, Lake Michigan, 1971-1982.

Herring gull egg homogenates collected between 1971 and 1982 from a colony in central Lake Ontario (Scotch Bonnet Island) and from a colony in central Green Bay, Lake Michigan (Big Sister Island) were archived in the Canadian Wildlife Service Specimen Bank. Pooled samples (N = 10) were exhaustively analyzed in 1993 for a wide range of individual chlorinated hydrocarbon contaminant (CHC) compounds: DDT, mirex and chlordane compounds and metabolites, chlorobenzenes (CBzs), dieldrin, chlorostyrenes (CSs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and 87 PCB congeners, including the TCDD-like non-ortho and mono-ortho congeners. PCBs and DDTs were the dominant residues in eggs from both Lake Ontario (31-242 mg kg(-1) and 9-64 mg kg(-1)) and Green Bay (34-133 mg kg(-1) and 14-91 mg kg(-1)). SigmaPCBs declined by a factor of 4-5 and DDTs a factor of 4-7 at both colonies between 1971 and 1982. Lake Ontario eggs had significantly higher residues of 2,3,7,8-TCDD (0.2-2.0 microg kg(-1)), HCBz (0.1-4.7 mg kg(-1)), OCS (0.03-0.45 mg kg(-1)), three HpCSs (0.13-0.97 mg kg(-1)), mirex and mirex photodegradation products (2.1-9.2 mg kg(-1)) than Green Bay eggs. HCBz levels in Lake Ontario eggs declined a factor of 40, TCDD and chlorostyrenes a factor of 8-10, and mirex a factor of 4 between 1971-1978. Green Bay eggs had slightly higher levels of chlordane-related compounds, dieldrin and beta-HCH than Lake Ontario eggs. There were no consistent or strong trends in residue levels of these pesticides, PCDDs (except TCDD) and PCDFs in either lake, indicating that rates of input and removal of these CHCs in the lakes were much closer in the early 1970s than was the case for the other compounds.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Assessing temporal trends in contaminants from long-term avian monitoring programs: the influence of sampling frequency.

The effect of sampling frequency on the detection of statistically significant temporal trends in egg contaminant levels was examined using data from the Great Lakes Herring Gull Monitoring Program. Decreased identification of statistically significant trends was apparent in the sampling regimes where samples were collected less frequently. When statistically significant declines were observed, sampling at two and four year intervals resulted in the trend being identified later than with annual monitoring. The design of monitoring programs must balance costs and data quality. Programs should ensure that the data collected are adequate to address critical questions.

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