In ovo exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls: Reproductive effects on secondgeneration American kestrels

Abstract. The reproductive success of wild birds has been af-fected by exposure to multiple contaminants. Reproduction of captive American kestrels (Falco sparverius) was suppressed when adult birds were exposed to dietary polychlorinated biphe-nyls (PCBs). In this study, the reproductive effects of in ovo exposure to PCBs is explored, along with determining effects on reproduction in second-generation birds indirectly exposed to PCBs. Reproductive changes in this subsequent generation are examined separately in male and female birds. Captive American kestrels (F. sparverius) were hatched from clutches with eggs containing environmentally relevant levels of total PCBs (34.0 mg/g whole egg WW versus 0 mg/g controls); parent birds had been fed PCB-spiked (Aroclor 1248:1254:1260) food (7 mg/kg BW day21) for 100 days until their eggs hatched. In 1999, the second-generation PCB birds were paired with unexposed kestrel