Effect of the 1990 die-off in the northern Italian seas on the developmental stability of the striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833) |
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| Authors: | CINO PERTOLDI MICHELA PODESTÁ VOLKER LOESCHCKE SØREN SCHANDORFF LETIZIA MARSILI CECILIA MANCUSI PAOLA NICOLOSI ETTORE RANDI |
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| Institution: | Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Aarhus, Building 540, My Munkegade, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark;Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano, corso Venezia 55, 1–20121, Milano, Italy;Department of Population Biology, Zoological Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark;Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientak, Universitàdi Siena, via delle Cerchia 3, 1–53100 Siena, Italy;Museo di Storia Maturate del Mediterraneo, via Roma 234, 57100 Livorno, Italy;Istituto Mazionale per la Fauna Selvatica, via Cd Fornacetta 9, 1–40064 Ozzano Emilia (Bo), Italy |
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| Abstract: | Developmental stability of the community of striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833), that died during the Mediterranean epizootic of 1990 was compared with that of the population prior to and after the epizootic, to assess whether animals that died were the developmentally less stable individuals in the population. Significantly higher levels of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) were found in those individuals that died. Tissue levels of organochlorine pesticide residues and PCBs were determined and the correlation between contaminant concentration and FA was tested. No correlations were found between the contaminant level and FA. |
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| Keywords: | fluctuating asymmetry directional asymmetry contaminants epizootic |
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