A 25 year overview of the contaminant exposure and effects in Eurasian Eagle-owl (Bubo bubo) f rom southern Spain

The Eurasian Eagle-owl (Bubo bubo) meets the requirements of a suitable sentinel species for biomonitoring environmental contaminants in Southeastern Spain (Murcia Region and Alicante Province). In this area, it is an abundant species, showing the highest breeding density within its distribution range. Since 1992, different sample types from free-living nestlings and adults (blood, feathers, unhatched eggs) or from injured individuals admitted in wildlife rehabilitation centres (blood, feathers, liver, kidney, brain and bones) were analysed for a wide range of pollutants (metals, organochlorine pesticides, anticoagulant rodenticides, neonicotinoid insecticides). Specific biomarkers (antioxidant molecules, lipid peroxidation, δ-ALAD and blood clinical paramABSTRACT * Corresponding author: ajgf@um.es Pilar Gómez-Ramírez1,2, Silvia Espín1,2,3, Mario León-Ortega4, Francisco Botella5, José Francisco Calvo4, Pedro Javier Jiménez-Montalbán1,2, Pedro María-Mójica1, 2,6, José Enrique Martínez4, Isabel Navas1,2, Juan Manuel Pérez-García5,7, José Antonio Sánchez-Zapata5, Alejandra Taliansky-Chamudis1,2, Nico Van Den Brink8, Emma Martínez-López1, 2, Antonio Juan García-Fernández1,2*