Organochlorine contaminants and eggshell thinning in grebes from prairie Canada

Eggs of five species of grebe were collected from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta during 1982-1987: red-necked (Podiceps grisegena), horned (P. auritus), eared (P. caspicus), western (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and pied-billed (Podilymbus podiceps). DDE and PCBs were present in all samples analyzed, whereas dieldrin, mirex and oxychlordane were occasionally present at low levels. Mercury was present at low levels in all samples for which it was analyzed. Red-necked grebes nesting in Manitoba had the highest contaminant levels and, assuming that contaminant burdens were accumulated principally on the wintering grounds, the mean PCB:DDE ratio (3.1) indicated that these birds and those from sites in central and eastern Saskatchewan probably wintered on the Atlantic coast. Overall low contaminant levels and a low mean PCB:DDE ratio (1.4) in the eggs of red-necked grebes breeding in Alberta and western Saskatchewan suggested that these birds wintered on the Pacific coast. A similar pattern was apparent in horned and eared grebes. Concentrations of DDE and PCB were both significantly correlated with Ratcliffe index (shell thickness), and were strongly correlated with each other. Ratcliffe indices were determined for historical collections of red-necked grebe eggs. Eggshell thickness of grebes nesting in Manitoba declined significantly during the years following the introduction of DDT (post-1947) and has only recovered partially since it was banned in 1972. The Alberta-breeding population did not appear to have undergone any significant decrease in shell thickness.