Chlorierte Schadstoffe in Schweinswalen (Phocoena phocoena): Verteilung, Akkumulation und Metabolismus in Abhaengigkeit von der Struktur

Harbour porpoises are the most common cetaceans in the German North and Baltic Sea. Their population size has declined during the last decades. Beside the accidental catch, the depletion of food sources and the disturbance by marine traffic, organic contaminants are discussed as a possible reason for their decreasing number. Organochlorines such as chlorobiphenyls, chlorinated pesticides, dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans are ubiquitous, anthropogenic environmental contaminants. Due to their lipophilicity and persistence they accumulate in the fatty tissues of marine mammals. These contaminants are supposed to be partly responsible for reproductive and immunological abnormalities in marine mammal populations. In the framework of the project 'Investigations on small cetaceans as a basis for a monitoring-programme', which was financed by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, investigations on organochlorines in harbour porpoises from the North Sea, Baltic Sea and the west coast off Greenland were carried out. (orig./MG)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RN 3292(291) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie, Bonn (Germany)DEGerman