Volume 511, 1 April 2015, Pages 259–267
Highlights
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- Anticoagulant rodenticides were found in 62.8% of the studied animals.
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- Rodenticide occurrence was positively correlated with human population density.
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- Scops owls were more exposed to rodenticides in Majorca Island than in Catalonia.
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- Birds showed lower levels of bromadiolone than mammals.
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- Rodenticide levels were compatible with lethal poisoning in 23.3% of the animals.
Abstract
We
studied the prevalence of anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) in the liver
of 344 individuals representing 11 species of predatory wildlife that
were found dead in the Mediterranean region of Spain (Catalonia and
Majorca Island). Six different ARs (brodifacoum, bromadiolone,
difenacoum, flocoumafen, difethialone, warfarin) were found in the liver
of 216 (62.8%) animals and > 1 AR co-occurred in 119 individuals
(34.6%). The occurrence of ARs was positively correlated with the human
population density. Catalonia and Majorca showed similar prevalence of
AR detection (64.4 and 60.4%, respectively), but a higher prevalence was
found in the resident population of Eurasian scops owl (Otus scops)
from Majorca (57.7%) compared to the migratory population from
Catalonia (14.3%). Birds of prey had lower levels of bromadiolone than
hedgehogs, whereas no difference was found for other ARs. The risk of
SGAR poisoning in wild predators in NE Spain is believed to be elevated,
because 23.3% of the individuals exhibited hepatic concentration of ARs
exceeding 200 ng/g.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Wildlife;
- Ecotoxicology;
- Pesticides;
- Bioaccumulation;
- Rodents
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