Occurrence and Health Impacts of Legacy and Novel Environmental Contaminants in the Endangered St.Lawrence Estuary Beluga

濒临灭绝的圣劳伦斯河口白鲸遗留和新型环境污染物的发生和健康影响

• 批准号: 531101-2018
• 负责人: Verreault, Jonathan
• 金额: $ 3.64万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Whale Science for Tomorrow
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=690073
• 关键词: Occurrence; Health; Impacts; Legacy; Novel

The endangered St. Lawrence Estuary beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) inhabits a marine ecosystem greatlyimpacted by upstream anthropogenic activities. This small population of around 900 individuals has not shownany sign of recovery in the past decades. An increase in the number of post-partum females and calvesmortality has even been observed in recent years. The high contaminant exposure of belugas was suggested asone important threat to the health of belugas and the recovery of this population. Understanding the exposure ofbelugas to known and new contaminants as well as their possible exposure-related effects are key elements toensure the conservation of this southernmost beluga population. This project will contribute to dress a globalpicture of the concentrations, trophic transfer and distribution of contaminants of priority concern in tissues ofbelugas. A general screening of all chemicals found in tissues will also be developed and analyzed to identifyany new substances of interest using innovative non-targeted methods. Innovative new proteomic andtranscriptomic techniques will be used to determine biological pathways that may be impacted by exposure toenvironmental contaminants in addition to a series of targeted health variables. Relationships betweencontaminant concentrations and biological endpoints will also be conducted in order to better understand thepotential effects of the chemical exposure. In vitro testing and modelling will complete this research to evaluatebiological effects of contaminants in beluga. Results generated from this project will help fill criticalknowledge gaps on environmental contaminants and their potential effects in the SLE beluga population. Theinformation will support the decision-making, management and conservation strategies of this unique belugawhale population. The multi-disciplinary and diversified expert team will be training the next generation ofmarine mammal and environmental toxicology specialists.

濒临灭绝的圣劳伦斯河口蓝宝石（Delphinapterus Leucas）居住在一个海洋生态系统中，上游人为活动极大地影响了海洋生态系统。在过去的几十年中，大约900个人的人口尚未显示出恢复的迹象。近年来，甚至观察到了产后雌性和钙叶状性的数量的增加。人们认为，蓝白的污染物很高，被认为是对蓝白人健康的重要威胁和该人群的恢复。了解贝尔加斯对已知和新污染物的暴露及其可能与暴露相关的影响是关键要素，以确保对这种最南端的白蓝宝石人群的保护。该项目将有助于打扮全球性的浓度，营养转移和分布的污染物，优先考虑的污染物。还将开发和分析对组织中发现的所有化学物质的一般筛查，以使用创新的非靶向方法来识别任何感兴趣的新物质。创新的新蛋白质组学和转录技术将用于确定除了一系列目标健康变量外，还可以受到暴露于环境污染物可能影响的生物学途径。为了更好地了解化学暴露的电势效应，还将建立浓度和生物终点的关系。体外测试和建模将完成这项研究，以评估蓝白污染物的生物学作用。该项目产生的结果将有助于填补对环境污染物及其对SLE Beluga人群的潜在影响的重要知识空白。这些信息将支持这个独特的蓝卡哈尔人口的决策，管理和保护策略。多学科和多元化的专家团队将培训下一代哺乳动物和环境毒理学专家。