Institution: | a Department of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Agriculture, Gifu University, Yanagido 1-1, Gifu 501-11, Japan b Department of Environment Conservation, Ehime University, Tarumi 3-5-7, Matsuyama 790, Japan c Department of Environmental Veterinary Sciences, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita-Ku Kita 18 Nishi 9, Sapporo 060, Japan d Gifu Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Noisshiki 4-6-3, Gifu 500, Japan e Kochi University, Akebono-cho, 2-5-1, Kochi 780, Japan f Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Gifu University, Yanagido 1-1, Gifu 501-11, Japan |
Abstract: | In order to understand the residue levels of organochlorine compounds (OCs) and their accumulation patterns in wildlife inhabiting Chubu region, Japan, the concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCHs), DDT compounds (DDTs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were measured in 8 species of terrestrial mammals and 10 species of birds. In view of feeding habits, the contamination levels of OCs were found to be higher in omnivorous mammals than in herbivorous ones, and in fish-eating ones and raptores than in omnivorous birds. In fox and dog, PCB-180 (2, 2′, 3, 4, 4′, 5, 5′-heptachlorobiphenyl) was the most dominant PCB congener, while in the other species PCB-153 (2, 2′, 4, 4′, 5, 5′-hexachlorobiphenyl) was the most persistent. The ratios of lower chlorinated PCB congeners (tri- to tetra-) to total PCBs were larger in fish-eating birds than in the other birds. The results indicate that the compositions of PCB congeners would reflect the differences of feeding habits and xenobiotic metabolizing systems among each species. |