TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schaap, Iris
A1  - Buedenbender, Larissa
A1  - Johann, Sarah
A1  - Hollert, Henner
A1  - Dogruer, Gulsah
T1  - Impact of chemical pollution on threatened marine mammals: a systematic review
T2  - Journal of Hazardous Materials
N2  - Highlights
• The higher the extinction risk, the fewer exposure-effect data are available.
• Lack of studies in the Southern Hemisphere shows a spatial bias in the literature.
• Commonly studied pollutants are persistent organic pollutants, metals, pesticides.
• Pollution-effect studies focus on molecular and cellular levels.
• In silico and in vitro approaches aid in assessing in vivo effects.
Abstract
Marine mammals, due to their long life span, key position in the food web, and large lipid deposits, often face significant health risks from accumulating contaminants. This systematic review examines published literature on pollutant-induced adverse health effects in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red-listed marine mammal species. Thereby, identifying gaps in literature across different extinction risk categories, spatial distribution and climatic zones of studied habitats, commonly used methodologies, researched pollutants, and mechanisms from cellular to population levels. Our findings reveal a lower availability of exposure-effect data for higher extinction risk species (critically endangered 16%, endangered 15%, vulnerable 66%), highlighting the need for more research. For many threatened species in the Southern Hemisphere pollutant-effect relationships are not established. Non-destructively sampled tissues, like blood or skin, are commonly measured for exposure assessment. The most studied pollutants are POPs (31%), metals (30%), and pesticides (17%). Research on mixture toxicity is scarce while pollution-effect studies primarily focus on molecular and cellular levels. Bridging the gap between molecular data and higher-level effects is crucial, with computational approaches offering a high potential through in vitro to in vivo extrapolation using (toxico-)kinetic modelling. This could aid in population-level risk assessment for threatened marine mammals.
KW  - Pollution-effect relationships
KW  - Persistent organic pollutants
KW  - Metals
KW  - Pesticides
KW  - Mechanistic toxicology
KW  - Conservation
Y1  - 2023
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/79081
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-790817
SN  - 0304-3894
VL  - 459
IS  - 132203
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -