Occurrence of Legacy and New Persistent Organic Pollutants in Avian Tissues from King George Island, Antarctica

Legacy and new persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), Dechlorane Plus (DPs) and related compounds (Dechloranes), hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), were analyzed in avian tissue samples from King George Island, Antarctica. The avian species consisted of the Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua), the Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae), the South polar skua (Stercorarius maccormicki), and the Brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus). HBCDs were detected in all samples and ranged from 1.67–713 pg/g-lipid. In the penguin samples, the concentrations of PCNs ranged from 0.69–2.07 ng/g-lipid, whereas those in the skua samples ranged from 7.41–175 ng/g-lipid. The levels of Dechloranes ranged from 0.60–1.30 ng/g-lipid in the penguin samples and from 6.57–47.4 ng/g-lipid in the skua samples. The concentrations and congener distributions of OCPs and PCBs were similar to the results of previous reports. The three new POPs were detected in all samples, and this study was one of the first reports on the occurrence of these pollutants in the Antarctic biota. Because Antarctica is one of the most pristine places on Earth, the detection of new POPs in the Antarctic birds, especially penguins, is direct evidence of the long-range transport of pollutants. Furthermore, the concentration ratios of the penguin to the skua samples (BMFₛ₋ₚ) were greater than 1 in most legacy and new POPs, and the BMFₛ₋ₚ values of the new POPs were comparable to those of some OCPs, suggesting a possibility of biomagnification. Despite the small sample size, the results of this study identified POP contamination of the Antarctic avian species and long-range transport and biomagnification of HBCDs, Dechloranes, and PCNs.