"Estimating Effects of Dioxins on Wildlife Population -A Case Study with Common Cormorant-" 

Mariko Murata¹, Naomasa Iseki¹, Shigeki Masunaga¹, Junko Nakanishi²

¹Yokohama National University
²National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Organohalogen Compounds, Vol.53 pp.17-20 (2001)

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Abstract

It has been reported that wildlife in Japan have been contaminated by dioxins (PCDDs, PCDFs, and co-PCBs) and that the levels in fish-eating birds are especially high 1,2,3,4,5,6. In present study, we attempted to quantify the effect of dioxins on common cormorants, in reference to the population-level effects. Particularly we estimated the effects of dioxin exposure in Tokyo Bay sediment onto the common cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) population in two ways. 

Firstly, the changes in intrinsic growth rate, and secondly, the changes in gross population size. The effects of dioxins were estimated utilizing population dynamics theory and the available field data. The intrinsic growth rate, which integrates fertility and survival rate, is considered to be a suitable measure of responses to toxicants because it is a biologically relevant parameter 7,8. 

Keywords

PCDDs, PCDFs, co-PCBs, Phalacrocorax carbo