The former use of chlordecone (CLD) in the French West Indies has resulted in long-term pollution of soils and of food chains. CLD may be transferred into eggs of hens reared outdoors, through polluted soil ingestion. Tropical volcanic soils display variable capacities of pollutant retention: CLD is less available and more persistent in andosol than in nitisol. The impact of soil type on CLD bioavailability to hens was tested through a relative bioavailability study. The deposition of CLD in egg yolk and in abdominal fat was measured in 42 individually housed laying hens fed with diets containing graded levels of CLD from polluted andosol, nitisol, or spiked oil during 23 days. Within each ingested matrix, the concentration of CLD in yolk and in abdominal fat linearly increased with the amount of ingested CLD (P<0.001). However, the response to andosol diets and to nitisol diets was not different from the response to oil diets (P>0.1), indicating that CLD was equally bioavailable to laying hens, irrespective of the matrix. This suggests that the hen's gastrointestinal tract efficiently extracts CLD from the two tropical volcanic soils, regardless of their retention capacity. Thus, hens reared on polluted soils with CLD may lay contaminated eggs. (Résumé d'auteur)

Little is known about the exposure of aquatic biota to tire and road wear particles (TRWP) washed away from roads. Mussels were exposed for 7 days to model TRWP (m-TRWP), produced by milling tire tread particles with pure sand, and analyzed for 21 tire-related compounds by liquid chromatography-high resolution-mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). Upon exposure to 0.5 g/L of m-TRWP, 15 compounds were determined from 944 μg/kg wet weight (diphenylguanidine, DPG) over 18 μg/kg for an oxidation product of N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N′-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (6-PPDQ) to 0.6 μg/kg (4-hydroxydiphenyl amine). Transfer into mussels was highest for PTPD, DTPD and 6-PPDQ and orders of magnitude lower for 6-PPD. During 7 days depuration the concentration of all determined chemicals decreased to remaining concentrations between ~50 % (PTPD, DTPD) and 6 % (6-PPD). Suspect and non-target screening found 37 additional transformation products (TPs) of tire additives, many of which did not decrease in concentration during depuration, among them ten likely TPs of DPG, two of 6-PPD and PTPD and two of 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline. A wide variety of chemicals is taken up by mussels upon exposure to m-TRWP and a wide range of TPs is formed, enabling the differentiation of biomarkers of exposure to TRWP and biomarkers of exposure to tire-associated chemicals. | publishedVersion

peer reviewed | Migratory bird species may serve as vectors of contaminants to Antarctica through the local deposition of guano, egg abandonment, or mortality. To further investigate this chemical input pathway, we examined the contaminant burdens and profiles of the migratory South polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki) and compared them to the endemic Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae). A range of persistent organic pollutants were targeted in muscle and guano to facilitate differentiation of likely exposure pathways. A total of 56 of 65 targeted analytes were detected in both species, but there were clear profile and magnitude differences between the species. The South polar skua and Adélie penguin muscle tissue burdens were dominated by p,p′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (mean 5600 ng g−1 lw and 330 ng g−1 lw respectively) and hexachlorobenzene (mean 2500 ng g−1 lw and 570 ng g−1 lw respectively), a chemical profile characteristic of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean region. Species profile differences, indicative of exposure at different latitudes, were observed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), with lower chlorinated congeners and deca-chlorinated PCB-209 detected in South polar Skua, but not in Adélie penguins. Notably, the more recently used perfluoroalkyl substances and the brominated flame retardants, hexabromocyclododecane and tetrabromobisphenol A, were detected in both species. This finding suggests local exposure, given the predicted slow and limited long-range environmental transport capacity of these compounds to the eastern Antarctic sector. © 2021

There are large knowledge gaps concerning environmental levels and fate of many organic pollutants, particularly for chemicals of emerging concern in tropical regions of the Global South. In this study, we investigated the levels of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) and dechloranes in air and soil in rural, suburban, and urban regions in and around Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Samples were also collected near the city's main municipal waste dumpsite and an electronic waste (e-waste) handling facility. In passive air samples, short chain CPs (SCCPs) dominated, with an average estimated concentration of 22 ng/m3, while medium chain CPs (MCCPs) had an average estimated concentration of 9 ng/m3. The average estimated air concentration of ∑dechloranes (Dechlorane Plus (DP) + Dechlorane 602 + Dechlorane 603) was three to four orders of magnitudes lower, 2 pg/m3. In soil samples, MCCPs dominated with an average concentration of 640 ng/g dw, followed by SCCPs with an average concentration of 330 ng/g dw, and ∑dechloranes with an average concentration of 0.9 ng/g dw. In both air and soil, DP was the dominating dechlorane compound. Urban pulses were observed for CPs and dechloranes in air and soil. CPs were in addition found in elevated levels at the municipal waste dumpsite and the e-waste handling facility, while DPs were found in elevated levels at the e-waste handling facility. This suggests that waste handling sites represent important emission sources for these pollutants. Investigations into seasonal trends and environmental fate of CPs and dechloranes showed that monsoonal rain patterns play a major role in governing air concentrations and mobility, particularly for the less volatile MCCPs and dechloranes. This study is the first to report levels of CPs in air from sub-Saharan Africa, and DP, Dechlorane 602, and Dechlorane 603 in soil from sub-Saharan Africa. | publishedVersion

During a 2018 retrieval cruise for abandoned snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) pots in the Barents Sea, approximately 8600 pots abandoned 1.5 years earlier were recovered. Forty-three percent of a subsample of 1000 pots contained snow crabs, with an average of three crabs per pot. Most of the crabs were alive (~98%) and dominated by large males. Pinch injuries and limb loss were common and tended to decline with increasing crab size. Reflex testing showed that the crabs were vital (i.e. the crabs moved their legs, chelipeds and maxillipeds when stimulated), which was supported by a relatively high meat content. However, energy reserves in the digestive glands (hepatopancreas reserves) were low, indicating overall energy deficiencies. Our results indicate considerable unaccounted mortality due to self-baiting, continued catch and cannibalism. The findings demonstrate that snow crab pots which are lost or abandoned in the Barents Sea fishery maintain huge potential for ghost-fishing impacts. | publishedVersion

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Legislations and commitments regulate Baltic Sea status assessments and monitoring. These assessments suffer from monitoring gaps that need prioritization. We used three sources of information; scientific articles, project reports and a stakeholder survey to identify gaps in relation to requirements set by the HELCOM's Baltic Sea Action Plan, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Water Framework Directive. The most frequently mentioned gap was that key requirements are not sufficiently monitored in space and time. Biodiversity monitoring was the category containing most gaps. However, whereas more than half of the gaps in reports related to biodiversity, scientific articles pointed out many gaps in the monitoring of pollution and water quality. An important finding was that the three sources differed notably with respect to which gaps were mentioned most often. Thus, conclusions about gap prioritization for management should be drawn after carefully considering the different viewpoints of scientists and stakeholders. | publishedVersion

As ice extent in the Arctic is declining, oil and gas activities will increase, with higher risk of oil spills to the marine environment. To determine biotransformation of dispersed weathered oil in newly formed ice, oil dispersions (2–3 ppm) were incubated in a mixture of natural seawater and frazil ice for 125 days at −2 °C. Dispersed oil in seawater without frazil ice were included in the experimental setup. Presence or absence of frazil ice was a strong driver for microbial community structures and affected the rate of oil degradation. n-alkanes were degraded faster in the presence of frazil ice, the opposite was the case for naphthalenes and 2–3 ring PAHs. No degradation of 4–6 ring PAHs was observed in any of the treatments. The total petroleum oil was not degraded to any significant degree, suggesting that oil will freeze into the ice matrix and persist throughout the icy season. | publishedVersion