Geology topics

W.W. Bowerman

Publications and source records attributed to W.W. Bowerman.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2007

Effect of in ovo exposure to an organochlorine mixture extracted from double crested cormorant eggs (Phalacrocorax auritus) and PCB 126 on immune function of juvenile chickens

Organochlorine (OC) contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and p, p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) have been associated with immune modulation in wild fish-eating birds from the Great Lakes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the immune function of juvenile chickens after in ovo exposure to PCB 126 or an environmentally relevant OC mixture extracted from eggs of double crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) from Green Bay, Lake Michigan, USA. Fertile white leghorn chicken (Gallus domesticus) eggs were injected before incubation with 0.55-1.79 ng TCDD equivalents (TEQ)/egg PCB 126 and 1.2-4.9 ng TEQs/egg of cormorant egg extract into the air cell in two separate experiments. After hatching, the immune function was tested using in vivo phytohemagglutinin (PHA) skin response in 11-day-old chicks, antibody titers to immunization with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) in 28-day-old chicks, and, at necropsy, thymus and bursal mass and cellularity. PCB 126 decreased antibody titers at all doses and decreased the thymus and bursa index but not cellularity at 1.79 ng TEQ/egg. The cormorant egg extract caused no significant alterations in immune function even though it has been demonstrated as immunotoxic in chicken embryos. However, twofold to threefold increases in total anti-SRBC titers in 28-day-old chicks exposed to 1.2 or 2.4 ng TEQ/egg of cormorant extract were similar to elevations in anti-SRBC titer observed in Caspian tern (Sterna caspia) chicks from a highly OC-contaminated site in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron. Posthatch exposure to OC through fish consumption in addition to in ovo OC exposure might be associated with the immune modulation reported in wild birds. Chicks in this study might have begun to compensate for embryonic immunotoxicity by the ages at which we studied them. ?? 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxico↗

USGS2001

Perfluorooctane sulfonate in fish-eating water birds including bald eagles and albatrosses

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was measured in 161 samples of liver, kidney, blood, or egg yolk from 21 species of fish-eating water birds collected in the United States including albatrosses from Sand Island, Midway Atoll, in the central North Pacific Ocean. Concentrations of PFOS in the blood plasma of bald eagles collected from the midwestern United States ranged from 13 to 2220 ng/mL (mean: 330 ng/mL), except one sample that did not contain quantifiable concentrations of PFOS. Concentrations of PFOS were greater in blood plasma than in whole blood. Among 82 livers from various species of birds from inland or coastal U.S. locations, Brandt's cormorant from San Diego, CA, contained the greatest concentration of PFOS (1780 ng/g, wet wt). PFOS was also found in the sera of albatrosses from the central North Pacific Ocean at concentrations ranging from 3 to 34 ng/mL. Occurrence of PFOS in birds from remote marine locations suggests widespread distribution of PFOS and related fluorochemicals in the environment.

Environmental Science & Technology↗

USGS1995

Contaminants in fishes from great lakes-influenced sections and above dams of three Michigan Rivers: III. Implications for health of bald eagles

Recently, there have been discussions of the relative merits of passage of fishes around hydroelectric dams on three rivers (Au Sable, Manistee, and Muskegon) in Michigan. A hazard assessment was conducted to determine the potential for adverse effects on bald eagles that could consume such fishes from above and below dams on the three primary rivers. The hazard assessments were verified by comparing the reproductive productivities of eagles nesting in areas where they ate primarily fish from either above or below dams on the three primary rivers, as well as on two additional rivers in Michigan, the Menominee and Thunder Bay. Concentrations of organochlorine insecticides (OCI), polychlorinated biphenyls (total PCBs), 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p -dioxin equivalents (TCDD-EQ), and total mercury (Hg) were measured in composite samples of fishes from above and below hydroelectric dams on the Manistee and Muskegon Rivers, which flow into Lake Michigan, and the Au Sable River, which flows into Lake Huron. Mean concentrations of OCI, total PCBs, and TCDD-EQ were all greater in fishes from below the dams than in those from above. The hazard assessment indicated that current concentrations of Hg and OCI other than DDT (DDT + DDE + DDD) in fish from neither above nor below dams would present a significant hazard to bald eagles ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ). Both total PCBs and TCDD-EQ in fishes from below the dams currently present a significant hazard to bald eagles, since their mean hazard quotients (HQ) were all greater than one.

Michigan↗

USGS1994

Contaminants in fishes from Great Lakes-influenced sections and above dams of three Michigan rivers. I: Concentrations of organo chlorine insecticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxin equivalents, and mercury

Fishes of the Great Lakes contain hazardous chemicals such as synthetic halogenated hydrocarbons and metals. These fish can move from the lakes into the Great Lakes tributaries of Michigan. In doing so, they transport concentrationsof contaminants which may represent a risk to wildlife. Concentrations of mercury (Hg), total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p -dioxin equivalents (TCDD-EQ), total DDT complex, aldrin, endrin, dieldrin, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, lindane, hexachlorobenzene, cis -chlordane, oxychlordane, endosulfan-I, methoxychlor, trans -chlordane, and trans -nonachlor were determined in composite samples of fishes from above and below Michigan hydroelectric dams, which separate the fishes which have access to the Great Lakes from fishes that do not. Mean concentrations of total PCBs, TCDD-EQ, DDT, and most of the other pesticides were greater in composite samples of six species of fishes from below than above the dams on the Au Sable, Manistee, and Muskegon Rivers. Concentrations of mercury, were the same or greater above the dams than below. However, this difference was statistically significant only on the Au Sable. Mercury concentrations ranged from less than 0.05 mg/kg to 0.73 mg Hg/kg, ww. Total concentrations of PCBs ranged from 0.02 to 1.7 mg/kg, ww. Concentrations of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlordibenzo- p -dioxin equivalents varied among fishes and locations. The concentrations of TCDD-EQ ranged from 2.4 to 71 μg/kg, ww, with concentrations in carp being the greatest. Concentrations of TCDD-EQ were greater than the concentrations which would be expected to occur, due solely to the presence of polychlorinated dibenzo- p -dioxins (PCDD), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF), and technical mixtures of PCBs.

Michigan↗

USGS1994

Contaminants in fishes from Great Lakes-influenced sections and above dams of three Michigan rivers. II: Implications for health of mink

Populations of mink ( Mustela vison ) have declined in many areas of the world. Such declines have been linked to exposures to synthetic, halogenated hydrocarbons. In the Great Lakes region, mink are fewer in areas along the shore of the Great Lakes and their tributaries where mink have access to fish from the Great Lakes. Recently, there has been discussion of the relative merits of passage of fishes around hydroelectric dams on rivers in Michigan. A hazard assessment was conducted to determine the potential for adverse effects on mink, which could consume such fishes from above or below dams on the rivers. Concentrations of organochlorine insecticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 2,3,7,8-tetrachloridibenzo- p -dioxin equivalents (TCDD-EQ), and total mercury were measured in composite samples of fishes from above or below hydroelectric dams on the Manistee and Muskegon Rivers, which flow into Lake Michigan, and the Au Sable River, which flows into Lake Huron. Concentrations of organochlorine insecticides, PCBs, and TCDD-EQ were all greater in fishes from below the dams than those from above. Concentrations of neither organochlorine insecticides nor mercury in fishes are currently a risk to mink above or below the dams. All of the species of fishes collected from downstream of the dams contained concentrations of PCBs and TCDD-EQ, which represent a hazard to mink. The hazard index for PCBs was less than one for the average of all species from the upstream reaches of the Manistee and Au Sable Rivers, but not the Muskegon. The hazard index (concentration in fish/NOAEC) was greater than 1 for all of the species collected from below the dams, in all three rivers. The greatest hazard index was observed for carp ( Cyprinus carpio ) downstream on the Muskegon River. Because the concentrations of PCBs used in the hazard assessment were corrected for relative toxic potencies, the hazard ratios based on PCBs should be similar to those based on TCDD-EQ. This was found to be true. Thus, either total PCBs or TCDD-EQ could be used as the critical toxicant in the hazard assessment. However, if uncorrected concentrations of PCBs, expressed as Aroclors ® , were used in the hazard assessment, the toxicity of the weathered mixture would have been underestimated by approximately five-fold, and, in that instance, TCDD-EQ would be the critical contaminant for the hazard assessment. The average maximum allowable percentage of fish from above the dams, which would result in no observable adverse effects of TCDD-EQ, was 70%. Based on the average TCDD-EQ concentrations in the fishes, an average of 8.6% of the diet could be made up of fishes from below dams on the rivers. The most restrictive daily allowable intakes were for carp on the Muskegon and steelhead trout ( Onchorhyncus mykiss ) on the Manistee Rivers. Only 2.7% of the diet could be made up of these two species from influenced portion of the Au Sable River, they would be exposed to 390 μg PCBs and 8.55 ng of TCDD-EQ per day, respectively (Giesy et al. 1994b). Thus, it would take 15.1 or 77 days for mink to receive their total annual dose of PCBs or TCDD-EQ, respectively. At least for chinook salmon, the critical contaminant for the purposes of hazard assessment would be total concentrations of PCBs. Consuming chinook salmon for as little as 2 weeks would deliver the annual allowable dose of PCBs to mink.

Michigan↗