1457 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Vol. 22, No. 7, pp. 1457–1464, 2003  2003 SETAC Printed in the USA 0730-7268/03 $12.00 + .00 ORGANOCHLORINE CONTAMINANTS IN BODY TISSUE OF FREE-RANGING WHITE-TAILED EAGLES FROM NORTHERN REGIONS OF GERMANY NORBERT KENNTNER,*² O LIVER KRONE,² G U ¨ NTER OEHME,‡ DIETRICH HEIDECKE,‡ and FRIEDA TATARUCH§ ²Institute for Zoo Biology and Wildlife Research, PF 601103, D-10252 Berlin, Germany ‡Martin-Luther-University, Institute for Zoology, Domplatz 4, D-06099 Halle/Saale, Germany §Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstr. 1, A-1160 Vienna, Austria ( Received 10 April 2002; Accepted 25 November 2002) Abstract—Concentrations of the organochlorine pesticides hexachlorobenzene (HCB), -hexachlorocyclohexane (-HCH), DDT and its metabolite p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), and seven polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners were analyzed in livers and adipose tissue samples of 145 white-tailed eagles found dead or moribund in Germany from 1979 to 2001. Most birds were found in the region of the former German Democratic Republic where the insecticide DDT was used until 1988. Therefore, our samples represent mainly residue data of specimens following the ban of DDT in these regions. Contaminant levels of 127 immature and adult birds found between the years 1990 and 2001 were in general below threshold levels known for detrimental effects. The highest level of DDT was detected in an adult bird found dead in 1979. Residues of most organochlorines were highly significantly correlated between hepatic and adipose tissue. Concentrations of DDT increase during aging, whereas only the levels of the higher-chlorinated PCBs were higher in tissues of adult birds compared with the younger age classes. Hepatic residues of DDT and HCB and the ratio of DDT to PCB, respectively, were significantly declining from 1990 to 2001. The indices given for body condition of specimen were significantly correlated with liver concentrations, indicating higher residues in more emaciated birds. Keywords—Haliaeetus Falconiformes Organochlorine pesticides Polychlorinated biphenyls Germany INTRODUCTION The white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) is a top pred- ator of the aquatic food web, feeding mainly on fish and wa- terfowl, and it is also known for its opportunistic scavenging. The northern and central European population of white-tailed eagles actually recover from critical levels caused by human persecution over centuries, habitat degradation, and agricul- tural use of organochlorine pesticides and organomercury com- pounds as seed dressing [1,2]. Since the end of the 1940s, the widespread application of DDT in agriculture and forestry caused detrimental effects on the reproduction of raptorial birds, like white-tailed eagles, inducing embryo toxicity and eggshell thinning and breakage, followed by a long-term pop- ulation decline. An extraordinarily high exposure to environ- mental contaminants was reported for the Baltic population of white-tailed eagles [3–6]. In contrast to the Fennoscandian peninsula [7,8], Poland [9–13], East Germany (former German Democratic Republic) [14,15], and Japan [16], little infor- mation is available about the body burden of persistent or- ganochlorines (OC) in soft tissue of white-tailed eagles col- lected elsewhere. Furthermore, most long-term studies on the influence of environmental contaminants on European white- tailed eagles were conducted by analyzing of OC in egg con- tents and therefore represent only the status of reproductive active females [4,5,17]. The present study reports OC concentrations in livers and in adipose tissue of 145 free-ranging white-tailed eagles found either dead or dying in the fields of northern Germany from 1979 to 2001. The primary aim of this study was to determine the OC exposure of white-tailed eagles found in Germany and * To whom correspondence may be addressed (kenntner@gmx.net). to examine long-term trends. Because of detailed knowledge concerning the finding conditions, such as date, causality and locality, and necropsy for each analyzed specimen, we ex- amined the relationships between contaminant levels and age classes, sexes, body condition indices, and sampling date, re- spectively. Furthermore, we want to contribute environmental contaminant data of white-tailed eagles from Germany for in- ternational comparisons and discussions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sample collection All analyzed white-tailed eagles were free ranging and found dead or moribund in the northern counties of Germany between 1979 and 2001. Most birds were necropsied in the Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Berlin, Germany; n = 87) and the Institute for Zoology at the University of Halle (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; n = 44); some samples of speci- men were obtained from the Natural History Museum Go ¨rlitz (Saxony, Germany, n = 4) and the Institute for Food, Drugs and Animal Diseases (Berlin, Germany; n = 10). All birds were aged using plumage and bill characteristics. We define juvenile birds as postnestlings up to an age of half a year; immature birds were found after October 1 of their first year, and adult birds were at least five years of age. The sex was determined during necropsy. Separated organs were stored at -20°C until analysis. Body condition was determined and cat- egorized into five levels from very poor to very good [18,19]. In two nestlings, one immature bird, and two adult birds, sex identification was impossible; therefore, Table 1 reports the sex, age, and origin of 140 analyzed white-tailed eagles. The years of sample collecting are given in Table 2.