Meeting Abstract

132.1  Tuesday, Jan. 7 13:30  Bobcats as bioindicators for brominated flame retardants in terrestrial ecosystems in the Midwestern United States JOOSTE, E*; CHEN, D; NIELSEN, C.K.; Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale ejooste@siu.edu

The monitoring of contaminants in the environment is essential to the health of humans and wildlife. Bioindicators are widely employed to understand spatial and temporal trends of environmental contaminants and their risks to ecosystems. Ideally, a biological indicator species should have a high trophic status, a widespread distribution, a well-known biology, and can be captured in sufficient numbers. Mammalian carnivores may be especially useful for evaluating levels of persistent organic pollutants in ecosystems because they occupy high trophic levels and may accumulate high levels of ingested substances via bioaccumulation or biomagnification through food webs. While aquatic mammals have been widely employed as bioindicators, terrestrial mammalian species are much less used. Hence, knowledge on environmental contaminants in terrestrial ecosystems remains relatively limited. In this study, we evaluated the suitability of using bobcats (Lynx rufus) as biological indicators to monitor environmental contaminants in the Midwestern United States. Bobcats are widespread throughout North America and in the absence of larger carnivores, serve as the top predator in many ecosystems. Contaminants of concern included emerging brominated flame retardants (BFRs), as well as legacy persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorinated pesticides and herbicides.