Using gas chromatography methods the content of DDT residues was determined in the tissues of 4 species of Antarctic birds: Oceanites oceanicus, Catharacta skua, Sterna vittata and Larus dominicanus, and in the eggs of Macronectes giganleus and Larus dominicanus. Samples were collected on King George Island, in February and October 1978. The highest level of DDT and its metabolites concentration was observed in the tissues of Oceanites oceanicus and the lowest in the tissues of Sterna vittata and in the eggs of M. giganteus and L. dominicanus. The differences in DDT content between different species and within one species are associated with their food composition and winter migrations to the regions with higher degree of DDT pollution.

Eggs and samples of the fat (blubber), muscles, and liver from three species of penguins: Pygoscelis adeliae, P. antarctica and P. papua were collected on King George Island in 1978. DDT residues were determined in the samples with the gas chromatography method. In the tissues pp'DDE and traces of pp'DDT were found, in the eggs merely pp'DDE. The highest DDT content (wet weight) was recorded in the fat of penguins, the lowest in the eggs. The differences between species in the mean values of the content of DDT residues in the tissues and eggs are not statistically significant. An increase in the level of pp'DDE concentration in the tissues and eggs of penguins was observed, as compared with earlier studies of other authors, as well as a tendency toward dippearance of the active form, i.e. pp'DDT, in the samples.