Chronic hydrocarbon exposure of harlequin ducks in areas affected by the Selendang Ayu oil spill at Unalaska Island, Alaska

• Published in: Environmental toxicology and chemistry Vol. 31; no. 12; pp. 2828 - 2831
• Main Authors: Flint, Paul L., Schamber, Jason L., Trust, Kimberly A., Miles, A. Keith, Henderson, John D., Wilson, Barry W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-12-2012; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Alaska; Aleutian Islands; Animals; Aquatic birds; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1 - metabolism; Ducks - metabolism; Environmental Monitoring; Enzyme kinetics; Female; Harlequin duck; Hydrocarbons; Hydrocarbons - analysis; Hydrocarbons - metabolism; Liver; Liver - metabolism; Male; Oil exposure; Oil spills; Petroleum Pollution; Selendang Ayu; Toxicity; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - metabolism; Wildfowl; Alaska; United States > US
• ISSN: 0730-7268; 1552-8618
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.1997

We evaluated chronic exposure of harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) to hydrocarbons associated with the 2004 M/V Selendang Ayu oil spill at Unalaska Island, Alaska. We measured levels of hepatic 7‐ethoxyresorufin‐O‐deethylase activity (EROD) in liver biopsy samples as an indicator of hydrocarbon exposure in three oiled bays and one reference bay in 2005, 2006, and 2008. Median EROD activity in ducks from oiled bays was significantly higher than in the reference bay in seven of nine pairwise comparisons. These results indicated that harlequin ducks were exposed to lingering hydrocarbons more than three years after the spill. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012; 31: 2828–2831. © 2012 SETAC