title: Organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in fish from lakes of the Tibetan Plateau and the implications.
abstract: High mountains may play significant roles in the global transport of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This work aims to investigate the levels, patterns and distribution of semi-volatile organochlorine pollutants and to improve the understanding of the long-range atmospheric transport and fate of contaminants on the Tibetan Plateau. A total of 60 fish samples were collected from eight lakes located between 2813 and 4718 m above sea level across the Plateau. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) including dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were measured in fish muscle. The results showed that concentrations of DDT, HCH and HCB were comparable to or lower than those found in remote mountains of Europe, Canada and US, while PCB concentrations in fish were, on average, about 4-150 times lower on Tibet than at other mountain areas. The transport and fate of contaminants in the Plateau are significantly influenced by the unique climatological and meteorological conditions, particularly by the summer Indian monsoon and winter westerly jet stream.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing, 100085, China.
authors.forename: Ruiqiang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yawei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chuanyong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: Thanh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Pu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yingming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Guibin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D002980:Climate; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005399:Fishes / Q000254:growth & development*; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000032:analysis*; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis; D009132:Muscles / Q000737:chemistry; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D018609:Tibet; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D010575:Pesticides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls