ArticleEnvironmental science & technology2023
Spatiotemporal Trends Spanning Three Decades Show Toxic Levels of Chemical Contaminants in Marine Mammals.
Article in Environmental science & technology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing oceans' health through biopsy sampling in free-ranging marine mammals: a systematic review (2014-2024).Environmental science and pollution research international · 2026Pooled it
- Drivers of Viral Diversity and Sharing in Marine Mammals.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Impacts of environmental stressors on fertility and fecundity across taxa, with implications for planetary health.NPJ emerging contaminants · 2026Review
- Sea temperature and pollution are associated with infectious disease mortality in short-beaked common dolphins.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Marine mammals as indicators of Anthropocene Ocean Health.npj biodiversity · 2024Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite their ban and restriction under the 2001 Stockholm Convention, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are still widespread and pervasive in the environment. Releases of these toxic and bioaccumulative chemicals are ongoing, and their contribution to population declines of marine mammals is of global concern. To safeguard their survival, it is of paramount importance to understand the effectiveness of mitigation measures. Using one of the world's largest marine mammals strandings data sets, we combine published and unpublished data to examine pollutant concentrations in 11 species that stranded along the coast of Great Britain to quantify spatiotemporal trends over three decades and identify species and regions where pollutants pose the greatest threat. We find that although levels of pollutants have decreased overall, there is significant spatial and taxonomic heterogeneity such that pollutants remain a threat to biodiversity in several species and regions. Of individuals sampled within the most recent five years (2014-2018), 48% of individuals exhibited a concentration known to exceed toxic thresholds. Notably, pollutant concentrations are highest in long-lived, apex odontocetes (e.g., killer whales (
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.