title: Polybrominated diphenyl ether contamination in soil, vegetation, and cow milk from a high-mountain pasture in the Italian Alps.
abstract: This study investigates contamination by 13 polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners in a high-mountain pasture located in the Italian Alps. The trend of PBDE contamination in three soil layers was investigated by a spring-summer sampling period to understand the importance of different environmental variables, such as seasonality, topographical aspect, and soil features. We also evaluated PBDE accumulation in grasses covering the plateau, and because the study area has been used for a pasture for a long time, we measured PBDE levels in milk from grazing cows. Overall, we found moderate PBDE contamination in Andossi soils, with differences depending on the layer, mountain side, and organic matter content. The vegetation of the plateau had greater PBDE concentrations than the soils and showed a grass/soil accumulation ratio between 2 and 12, indicating that deposition from the atmosphere is actually the dominant process in this area. Last, PBDE concentrations in milk followed similar seasonal trends as the vegetation but showed variations in congener abundance in agreement with the biotransformation susceptibility, absorption efficiency, and residence time of different BDEs in dairy cattle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Milan, Italy. marco.parolini@unimi.it
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parolini
authors.forename: Niccolò
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guazzoni
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Binelli
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tremolada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D007558:Italy; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry*; D006109:Poaceae / Q000737:chemistry; D011786:Quality Control; D012621:Seasons; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D012989:Soil Pollutants