Historical perspective on endocrine disruption in wildlife
P. Matthiessen
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster Environment
Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4AP, UK
Abstract: Endocrine disruption (ED) as a named field of research
has been very active for over 10 years, but effects in wildlife that
would now be labeled as ED have been studied since the 1940s. This paper
briefly surveys the progress in wildlife studies that has been made
to date and draws out the major themes and issues that have been identified.
In particular, it discusses information concerning causative substances,
modes of action, ubiquity of effects across taxa, individual- and population-level
impacts, and the importance of low-dose and mixture effects. The main
conclusion is that while most wildlife taxa are showing some ED effects
at some locations, good evidence for population-level impacts is still
limited to a few groups. In order to improve both the interpretation
of field observations and the way in which environmental risk assessments
are conducted, we need to develop an enhanced ability to predict effects
on populations and communities from a knowledge of effects on individuals.
*Report from a SCOPE/IUPAC project: Implication of
Endocrine Active Substances for Human and Wildlife (J. Miyamoto and
J.Burger, editors). Other reports are published in this issue,
pp. 1617-2615.
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