Persistent Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Tissues and Eggs of White-Backed Vulture, Gyps bengalensis from Different Locations in India

Muralidharan, Selvadurai; Dhananjayan, Venugopal; Risebrough, Robert W.; Prakash, Vibhu; Jayakumar, R.; Bloom, Peter H.

doi:10.1007/s00128-008-9529-z

Cited by 36 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Dichloro-diphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its derivatives have been detected in areas within the vicinity of breeding colonies of vultures. Muralidharan et al (2008) reported OCP residues in tissues and eggs of white-backed vulture Gyps bengalensis collected from different places in India during 1999-2003. Population of white-backed vulture drastically declined up to 92% in its entire known distribution ranges in India during the last 10 years .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Distribution of persistent organochlorine chemical residues in blood plasma of three species of vultures from India

Dhananjayan

Muralidharan

Jayanthi

2010

Environ Monit Assess

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The presence of persistent organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in blood plasma of white-backed vulture Gyps bengalensis, Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus, and griffon vulture Gyps fulvus collected from Ahmedabad, India. All the samples had varying levels of organochlorine pesticides and PCBs. Statistically significant (P<0.05) differences among species were detected for beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), ∑HCH, and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT). The mean concentration of ∑HCH, ∑DDT, and ∑PCBs among plasma ranged from 43.7 to 136, 8.8 to 64.8, and 226 to 585 ng/ml, respectively. Among the various OCPs analyzed, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene (p,p'-DDE) was detected most frequently. The concentrations of cyclodiene insecticides detected were lower than the other organochlorine residues. The levels of pesticides measured in plasma samples of three species of vulture were comparable to the results documented for a number of avian species and were lower than those reported to have deleterious effects on survival or reproduction of birds. Although no threat is posed by any of the organochlorine pesticides detected, continuous monitoring of breeding colonies is recommended. This study is also the first account of a comprehensive analysis of toxicants present in blood plasma of vulture species in India. The values reported in this study can serve as guidelines for future research in general as well as control values during the analysis of samples obtained from birds in the event of suspected organochlorine poisoning.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Distribution of persistent organochlorine chemical residues in blood plasma of three species of vultures from India

Dhananjayan

Muralidharan

Jayanthi

2010

Environ Monit Assess

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“…Organochlorines such as DDT are responsible for reproductive failure and high mortality rates of avain predators and scavengers in many countries (Provini & Galassi, 1999;Muralidharan et al 2008; van Drooge et al 2008;Dhananjayan et al 2011). Farmers in India use large concentrations of pesticides with their use increasing during the 1980's which may well have affected migrating vultures and the Nepal vulture population along the border regions.…”

Section: Ingestion Of Chemicals and Leadmentioning

confidence: 99%

The conservation of Accipitridae vultures of Nepal: a review

Harris¹

2013

J. Threat. Taxa

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Abstract:Of the nine Accipitridae vulture species found within Nepal the IUCN categorises White-rumped, Indian Vulture, Slender-billed and Red-headed Vultures as Critically Endangered and Egyptian Vulture as Endangered. Dramatic declines have occurred since the mid 1990s with the White-rumped Vulture, Indian Vulture and Slender-billed Vulture population declining by over 97%. The remaining species are listed as Near Threatened or Least Concern. Veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac has been proven to be a key threat in the region for Gyps vultures and appears likely that it may also affect other Accipitridae vultures. The drug is transferred to vultures via consumption of dead livestock carcass. Ingestion of the drug causes visceral gout and kidney failure, which leads to the birds' death. Consumption of diclofenac and the majority of other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are fatal to individuals. Only one NSAID, meloxicam, has been tested and proven safe for vultures. There are other factors such as food shortage in local scale, habitat loss, climate change and pesticides/poisoning that play some role on population decline. Managing vulture conservation across Nepal can be problematic just as it is throughout the Indian subcontinent due to the variable level of protection afforded to vultures through legislation and enforcement in each political region particularly regarding NSAID regulation and use. However, great gains have been made on removing diclofenac from sale within the Indian subcontinent. Continuing and enhancing the holistic conservation approach between all stakeholders, government and non-government organisations, across the species range is required to conserve them for future generations. Indeed, it is likely that a number of species will become extinct if a greater conservation effort is not forthcoming in the very near future.

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“…Such factors are already covered in a recently published review article by Paital et al [29]. The authors made a perspective that hunting [31], pollution [30,[32][33][34], food scarcity and cannibalism [24,33,34], ingestion of contaminated food and food poisoning [35][36][37][38][39][40][41], multiple physiological disorders including nutritional problems [14,42], lack of proper nesting and resting places [8], genotoxic factors [43,44], problems related to breeding [24,45], electrocution and air traffic [38,46,47] epidemic and endemic diseases [38,[48][49][50][51], pathological susceptibility [22,41,48,[52][53][54] etc. may be contributing factors for vulture mortality.…”

Section: Other Reasons For Vulture Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Cyclonic Storm as Natural Disaster and other Factors on Vulture Mortality in India

Paital¹

2016

J Geogr Nat Disast

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Post mortem analyses in vultures across India and its neighboring countries traced diclofenac and its derivative compounds in their carcasses. Therefore, it is inferred that biomagnification of diclofenac from the consumed infected domestic animal carcasses contributes mortality by causing renal failure and hepatic damages in vultures. However, reports also indicate that both extrinsic environmental and intrinsic cellular causes might also be contributing factors. It offers a debate to confirm whether only diclofenac is the primary cause of vulture mortality versus their susceptibility to microbial pathogens, diseases or physiological conditions, such as oxidative stress due to diclofenac biomagnification. It is observed that natural disasters such as heavy cyclonic storm which affect arboreal life may be one of the major causes of the death of vultures in some parts of India. Therefore, extrinsic insults such as heavy cyclonic storms are believed to be also contributing factor to affect arboreal life including vultures in some other parts of the world. A perspective is made on the above facts as a cause of catastrophic mortality of vultures in India.

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Persistent Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Tissues and Eggs of White-Backed Vulture, Gyps bengalensis from Different Locations in India

Cited by 36 publications

References 19 publications

Distribution of persistent organochlorine chemical residues in blood plasma of three species of vultures from India

Distribution of persistent organochlorine chemical residues in blood plasma of three species of vultures from India

The conservation of Accipitridae vultures of Nepal: a review

Role of Cyclonic Storm as Natural Disaster and other Factors on Vulture Mortality in India

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