Dear MARMAM colleagues, It is with great pleasure that my co-authors and I would like to share our most recent publication in Ecological Indicators and a less recent publication in Marine Pollution Bulletin: Méndez-Fernandez P, Simon-Bouhet B, Bustamante P, Chouvelon T, Ferreira M, López A, Moffat CF, Pierce GJ, Russell M, Santos MB, Spitz J, Vingada JV, Webster L, Read FL, González AF, Caurant F (2017). INTER-SPECIES DIFFERENCES IN POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS PATTERNS FROM FIVE SYMPATRIC SPECIES OF ODONTOCETES: CAN PCBS BE USED AS TRACERS OF FEEDING ECOLOGY? Ecological Indicators, Volume 74, March 2017, Pages 98-108. Abstract Concentrations of thirty two polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in the blubber of five sympatric species of odontocetes stranded or by-caught along the Northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula: common dolphin (_Delphinus delphis_), long-finned pilot whale (_Globicephala melas_), harbour porpoise (_Phocoena phocoena_), striped dolphin (_Stenella coeruleoalba_) and bottlenose dolphin (_Tursiops truncatus_). Multivariate analyses were applied to evaluate the ability of PCB patterns to discriminate these sympatric species and to determine which eco-biological factors influence these patterns, thus evaluating the relevance of PCB concentrations as biogeochemical tracers of feeding ecology. The five species could be separated according to their PCB patterns. Different exposure to these contaminants, a consequence of their different dietary preferences or habitats, together with potentially dissimilar metabolic capacities, likely explain these results; sex, age, habitat and the type of prey eaten were the most important eco-biological parameters of those tested. Although, no single congener has been specifically identified as a tracer of feeding ecology, 4 congeners from the 22 analysed seemed to be the most useful and around 12 congeners appear to be enough to achieve good discrimination of the cetaceans studied. Therefore, this study suggests that PCB patterns can be used as tracers for studying the feeding ecology, sources of contamination or even population structure of cetacean species from the Northwest Iberian Peninsula. Méndez-Fernandez P, Galluzzi Polesi P, Taniguchi S, Santos MC de O, Montone RC (2016). VALIDATING THE USE OF BIOPSY SAMPLING IN CONTAMINATION ASSESSMENT STUDIES OF SMALL CETACEANS. Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 107, Issue 1, 15 June 2016, Pages 364-369. Abstract Remote biopsy sampling is the most common technique for acquiring samples from free-ranging marine mammals. However, such techniques may result in variable sampling being sometimes superficial skin and blubber biopsies. For decades, blubber has been used to monitor the exposure of marine mammals to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), but little is known regarding the variability of POPs as a function of blubber depth in small cetaceans and the available literature offers variable results. Thus, the aim of the present study was to validate biopsy sampling for monitoring contaminant concentrations in small, free-ranging cetaceans. Samples from the dorsal blubber of 10 incidentally captured Atlantic spotted dolphins (_Stenella frontalis_) were separated into two different layers (outer and inner) to investigate the influence of sampling depth on POP concentrations. POP concentrations were compared to those of the full blubber layer. The results revealed no significant differences in lipid content between males and females or among the inner, outer and full blubber layers (p > 0.05). Moreover, the wet and lipid weight concentrations of all POP classes analysed [i.e. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), chlordanes (CHLs) and mirex] did not differ significantly with blubber depth (p > 0.05). POP classes followed the same decreasing order of wet weight concentrations in blubber layers and full blubber: PCBs > DDTs > PBDEs > mirex > HCB > HCHs > CHLs. Moreover, there was a low degree of differentiation in the accumulation of POP congeners. The present findings indicated that the distribution of contaminants was homogenous with blubber depth, which validates the use of biopsy sampling for the assessment of contaminants in small cetaceans. Full text and PDF files can be downloaded here https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1U5cJ,XRNLRQ55 [1] and here http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X16302223 Alternatively, please send PDF requests to paula.mendez_fernandez@univ-lr.fr All the best Paula Links: ------ [1] https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1U5cJ,XRNLRQ55