{"id":119117,"date":"2026-09-11T21:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/publikasjoner\/dna-damage-in-arctic-seabirds-baseline-sensitivity-to-agenotoxic-stressor-and-association-with-organohalogencontaminants\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T21:50:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:50:00","slug":"dna-damage-in-arctic-seabirds-baseline-sensitivity-to-agenotoxic-stressor-and-association-with-organohalogencontaminants","status":"publish","type":"nva_publication","link":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/publications\/dna-damage-in-arctic-seabirds-baseline-sensitivity-to-agenotoxic-stressor-and-association-with-organohalogencontaminants\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA Damage in Arctic Seabirds: Baseline, Sensitivity to a\r\nGenotoxic Stressor, and Association with Organohalogen\r\nContaminants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Environmental contaminants are found throughout Arctic marine ecosystems, and their presence in seabirds has been<br \/>\nassociated with toxicological responses. However, there are few studies of genotoxicity in Arctic avian wildlife. The purpose of<br \/>\nthe present study was to quantify deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage in lymphocytes of selected seabird species and to<br \/>\nexamine whether accumulation of organohalogen contaminants (SOHCs) affects DNA damage. Blood was sampled from<br \/>\ncommon eider (Somateria mollissima), black guillemot (Cepphus grylle), black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), glaucous gull<br \/>\n(Larus hyperboreus), arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), and great skua (Stercorarius skua) in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard (Norway).<br \/>\nContaminant concentrations found in the 6 species differed, presumably because of foraging ecology and biomagnification.<br \/>\nDespite large differences in contaminant concentrations, ranging from SOHCs 3.3 ng\/g wet weight in the common eider to<br \/>\nSOHCs 895 ng\/g wet weight in the great skua, there was no strong difference among the species in baseline DNA damage or<br \/>\nsensitivity to a genotoxic stressor (hydrogen peroxide). Baseline levels of DNA damage were low, with median values ranging<br \/>\nfrom 1.7% in the common eider to 8.6% in the great skua. There were no associations between DNA damage and contaminants<br \/>\nin the investigated species, suggesting that contaminant concentrations in Kongsfjorden are too low to evoke genotoxic effects,<br \/>\nor possibly that lymphocytes are resistant to strand breakage. Clearly, genotoxicity is a topic for future studies of Arctic seabirds<br \/>\nArctic; Seabirds; Genotoxicity; Comet Assay; Persistent organic pollutants; Perfluoroalkyl substances<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_id":"","_status":"PUBLISHED","_sync_date":"2026-09-11 14:59:34","footnotes":""},"nva_tax_category":[1099],"class_list":["post-119117","nva_publication","type-nva_publication","status-publish","hentry","nva_tax_category-scientific-journal-publication"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_publication\/119117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_publication"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nva_publication"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_publication\/119117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"nva_tax_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_tax_category?post=119117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}