Occurence of organochlorine pollutants in the eggs and dropping-amended soil of Antarctic large animals and its ecological significance

These results agreed well with those from the similar study by Weichbrodt et al, (1999) for the average accumulation levels of ΣHCH, ΣDDT, and ΣPCB in Antarctic skua eggs. The average concentration was brown skua > South Polar skua > giant petrel > penguin. The major foods of the brown skua were penguin eggs and infants, also they liked to forage for human waste.

South Polar skuas prey on fishes, zooplankton, and small-sized birds; they also eat corpses of penguins and seals as a supplement. Penguins cannot fly and their major food is Antarctic krill, fishes and shrimps. They are also preyed upon by skua and giant petrels.

Giant petrels prey on zooplankton, cephalopods, and fish. From the prey-predator relationship it could be seen that the accumulation of PCBs and OCPs in the seabirds was the result of their position in the food chain.