Effects of sex and sampling site on the relative proportion of pesticides in uropygial gland secretions of European Blackbirds (Turdus merula)

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is a pesticide that was commonly used for dec-ades worldwide. The use of DDT was banned in the 1970s and 1980s in Europe becauseof its high toxicity and persistence in the environment, bioaccumulation in living organ-isms and biomagnification through food webs....

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Díez-Fernández, Alazne, Martín Rueda, José, Martínez de la Puente, Josué, Gangoso, Laura, López Martínez, Pilar, Soriguer, Ramón C., Figuerola, Jordi
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/279463
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/279463
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bioaccumulation
Blood parasites
Organochlorine pesticides
Preen gland secretion
Turdus merula
Urban ecology
http://metadata.un.org/sdg/11
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Descripción
Sumario:Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is a pesticide that was commonly used for dec-ades worldwide. The use of DDT was banned in the 1970s and 1980s in Europe becauseof its high toxicity and persistence in the environment, bioaccumulation in living organ-isms and biomagnification through food webs. However, monitoring using both invasiveand non-invasive methods has routinely reported the occurrence of DDT metabolitessuch as dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) in wild birds, providing valuable infor-mation about the exposure to pesticides and potential differences between species andover time. Here, we analysed the relative proportion of DDE in the uropygial glandsecretions of European BlackbirdsTurdus merulafrom two localities in southern Spain.Given the negative effects of this pollutant on animal immunity, we also tested for asso-ciations between the prevalence of haemosporidians and the relative proportion of DDEin their secretions. Relative proportions of DDE varied between sampling sites and werehigher in females than in males, regardless of their age. In spite of the potential immuno-suppressive effect of DDE, haemosporidian infection was not associated with DDEpresence.