Dataset Information

Sublethal, sex-specific, osmotic, and metabolic impairments in embryonic and adult round stingrays from a location exposed to environmental contamination in southern California, USA.

ABSTRACT: Organic contaminants are known to affect a suite of physiological processes across vertebrate clades. However, despite their ancient lineage and important roles in maintaining healthy ecosystems, elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays) are understudied with regard to sublethal effects of contaminant exposure on metabolic processes. Perturbations resulting from contaminant exposure can divert energy away from maintaining physiological homeostasis, particularly during energetically challenging life stages, such as pregnancy and embryonic development. Using the round stingray (Urobatis halleri) as a model elasmobranch species, we captured adult males and pregnant females (matrotrophic histotrophy) and their embryos from two populations differing in their environmental exposure to organic contaminants (primarily polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)). Pregnant females from the PCB-exposed population experienced significant decreases from early- to late-pregnancy in tissue mass and quality not seen in reference females. PCB-exposed pregnant females also failed to maintain plasma urea concentrations as pregnancy progressed, which was accompanied by a loss in muscle protein content. Despite the energetic demands of late-term pregnancy, females had significantly greater liver lipid content than reproductively inactive adult males. PCB-exposed adult males also had high metabolic capacity (i.e., enzyme activity) for most substrate groupings of all sex-site groups, suggesting that males may be even more negatively impacted by contaminant exposure than pregnant females. Evidence that in utero exposure to PCBs via maternal offloading impairs embryo outcomes is accumulating. Embryos from the PCB-contaminated site had lower tissue quality measures and indications that sex-based differences were manifesting in utero as males had higher metabolic capacities than females. This study indicates that accumulated PCB contaminants are not physiologically inert in the stingray.

SUBMITTER: Lyons K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8164579 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:To better characterize the transport of neonicotinoid insecticides to the world's largest freshwater ecosystem, monthly samples (October 2015-September 2016) were collected from 10 major tributaries to the Great Lakes, USA. For the monthly tributary samples, neonicotinoids were detected in every month sampled and five of the six target neonicotinoids were detected. At least one neonicotinoid was detected in 74% of the monthly samples with up to three neonicotinoids detected in an individual sample (10% of all samples). The most frequently detected neonicotinoid was imidacloprid (53%), followed by clothianidin (44%), thiamethoxam (22%), acetamiprid (2%), and dinotefuran (1%). Thiacloprid was not detected in any samples. The maximum concentration for an individual neonicotinoid was 230?ng?L-1 and the maximum total neonicotinoids in an individual sample was 400?ng?L-1. The median detected individual neonicotinoid concentrations ranged from non-detect to 10?ng?L-1. The detections of clothianidin and thiamethoxam significantly increased as the percent of cultivated crops in the basins increased (??=?0.73, P?=?.01; ??=?0.66, P?=?.04, respectively). In contrast, imidacloprid detections significantly increased as the percent of the urbanization in the basins increased (??=?0.66, P?=?.03). Neonicotinoid concentrations generally increased in spring through summer coinciding with the planting of neonicotinoid-treated seeds and broadcast applications of neonicotinoids. More spatially intensive samples were collected in an agriculturally dominated basin (8 sites along the Maumee River, Ohio) twice during the spring, 2016 planting season to provide further information on neonicotinoid inputs to the Great Lakes. Three neonicotinoids were ubiquitously detected (clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam) in all water samples collected within this basin. Maximum individual neonicotinoid concentrations was 330?ng?L-1 and maximum total neonicotinoid concentration was 670?ng?L-1; median detected individual neonicotinoid concentrations were 7.0 to 39?ng?L-1.

Dataset Information

Sublethal, sex-specific, osmotic, and metabolic impairments in embryonic and adult round stingrays from a location exposed to environmental contamination in southern California, USA.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets