Hatching weights of ducklings from the oiled eggs were not significantly different 

 (P < 0.01) from the weights of the control ducklings. Ducklings from the 

 oiled eggs did not have an unusual amount of gross external malformations 

 nor did they exhibit unusual behavior. 



Female mallard ducks on a diet containing 25,000 ppm SLC have laid signifi- 

 cantly fewer eggs (P < 0.05) than females on clean feed. The number of eggs 

 laid by mallards on a diet- containing a mixture of 10 aliphatic compounds 

 or 2,500 ppm of SLC was not significantly different from the controls (Coon, 

 personal communication). 



Herring gulls {Lams argentatus) from Lake Ontario were examined by Fox, 

 et al . (1975) because they displayed almost totally depressed reproduction 

 and represent a top level consumer in the food chain. One of the factors 

 suspected was poor embryonic survival, which may be caused by embryotoxins. 

 Compounds from lipid extracts identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, 

 or by gas chromatography alone, included 14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons 

 that were not of biogenic origin. 



Crude oils contain high concentrations of metals. The National Academy of 

 Sciences (1974) reported that different types of crude oils contain as much as 

 1,400 ppm vanadium. Scientists at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center have com- 

 pleted the initial phases of a study of the kinetics of vanadium and found that 

 it greatly altered lipid metabolism in laying mallard females (White and Dieter, 

 unpublished data) . 



I 



CHEMICAL ANALYSIS 



The analytical methodology for detecting and quantitating petroleum in 

 avian tissues is in the early developmental stages, and standardization of 

 techniques has not been accomplished. However, petroleum hydrocarbons have 

 been reported in tissues of birds from oil spill areas. Brain and muscle 

 of an immature herring gull from the West Falmouth oil spill site contained 

 around 500 ppm of total hydrocarbons, as compared to 10 ppm in the brain and 

 muscle of an immature gull collected 15 km away in a clean area (Burns and 

 Teal 1971). Snyder et al. (1973) collected tissues from three different 

 aquatic birds at the San Francisco Bay oil spill. Two laboratories in Texas 

 and Massachusetts, which analyzed the samples by gas chromatography, identified 

 petroleum hydrocarbons in a composite sample of liver, kidney, fat, heart 

 and brain of a common murre {Uria aalge aalge) , in the liver and kidney of 

 a surf scoter {Melanitta perspicillata) , and in the liver of a western grebe 

 (Aeehmophorous oaoidentalis) . Comparison with gas chromatograms of Bunker 

 C fuel oil indicated that the tissues of the common murre contained 8,820 ppm 

 of C15+ aliphatic hydrocarbons; the tissues of the surf scoter, 1,250 ppm; 

 and tissues of the western grebe, 9,100 ppm. 



Patuxent chemists, and Dr. John Laseter, University of New Orleans (con- 

 tractual studies), are establishing extraction procedures, checking recoveries, 

 and quantitating petroleum hydrocarbon fractions in avian tissues. Procedures 

 for the detection of petroleum hydrocarbons in liver and muscle tissue have 

 been established; procedures for fat and brain tissue are being developed. 

 Quantitation of specific hydrocarbons in liver and muscle tissue has been 



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