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Science 1 March 1968:
Vol. 159. no. 3818, pp. 979 - 981
DOI: 10.1126/science.159.3818.979
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Articles

DDT Residues and Declining Reproduction in the Bermuda Petrel

Charles F. Wurster Jr. 1 and David B. Wingate 2

1 Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook 11790
2 Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Paget East, Bermuda

Residues of DDT [1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane] averaging 6.44 parts per million in eggs and chicks of the carnivorous Bermuda petrel indicate widespread contamination of an oceanic food chain that is remote from applications of DDT. Reproduction by the petrel has declined during the last 10 years at the annual rate of 3.25 percent; if the decline continues, reproduction will fail completely by 1978. Concentrations of residues are similar to those in certain terrestrial carnivorous birds whose productivity is also declining. Various considerations implicate contamination by insecticides as a probable major cause of the decline.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
DDT in the Biosphere: Where Does It Go?.
G. M. Woodwell, P. P. Craig, and H. A. Johnson (1971)
Science 174, 1101-1107
   Abstract »    PDF »
DDT Residues in Marine Phytoplankton: Increase from 1955 to 1969.
J. L. Cox (1970)
Science 170, 71-73
   Abstract »    PDF »
DDT Residues Absorbed from Organic Detritus by Fiddler Crabs.
W. E. Odum, G. M. Woodwell, and C. F. Wurster (1969)
Science 164, 576-577
   Abstract »    PDF »
Estrogenic Activity of o, p'-DDT in the Mammalian Uterus and Avian Oviduct.
J. Bitman, H. C. Cecil, S. J. Harris, and G. F. Fries (1968)
Science 162, 371-372
   Abstract »    PDF »
DDT Residues and Bermuda Petrels.
L. A. McLean, C. F. Wurster Jr., and D. B. Wingate (1968)
Science 161, 397
   PDF »
DDT Reduces Photosynthesis by Madne Phytoplankton.
C. F. Wurster Jr. (1968)
Science 159, 1474-1475
   Abstract »    PDF »


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