title: Legacy and current-use brominated flame retardants in the Barn Owl.
abstract: The present study investigated the current-use brominated flame retardants (BFRs) tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), simultaneously with legacy polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), in Barn Owls (Tyto alba) collected from two regions with a contrasting degree of urbanisation and vicinity to point sources (Flanders in Belgium versus Normandy in France). Both tissues (muscle, liver, adipose and preen gland) and feathers (primary, tail and body feathers) showed elevated HBCD concentrations in Flanders, close to Europe's sole HBCD production plant in the Netherlands, and identified Normandy as a historical source region for PBDEs. In sharp contrast, the reactive BFR TBBPA bioaccumulated poorly (2.3%) in tissue samples, but was present in 96% of all body feather samples (0.36-7.07ngg(-1)dw), equally in both regions. PBDE concentrations in tissues (7.46-903 ng g(-1)lw) were considerably lower in the investigated Flemish Barn Owls, collected in 2008/2009, compared to specimens collected in 2003/2004 (46-11,000 ng g(-1)lw), possibly suggesting the effectiveness of the 2004 European ban of Penta- and Octa-BDE mixtures. Feathers showed a similar trend and additionally exhibited HBCD concentrations (0.02-333 ng g(-1)dw) surpassing those of PBDEs (0.50-10.4 ng g(-1)dw). While body feathers were a reliable matrix to predict both internal PBDE (0.21 ≤ R(2)≤ 0.67) and HBCD body burdens (0.20 ≤ R(2) ≤ 0.37), the suitability of primary and tail feathers appeared to be confounded by external contamination and moult. In conclusion, the present study clearly showed that the reactive versus additive use of BFRs results in contrasting exposure scenarios in a species higher up the food chain, and therefore may have profound implications for environmental health. In addition, the presented results extend the promising use of feathers as a non-destructive sampling strategy for current-use BFRs, and show that birds of prey are valid early-warning systems for environmental contamination.
authors.affiliation: Ethology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium. Electronic address: igor.eulaers@uantwerp.be.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Eulaers
authors.affiliation: Ethology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium; Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: veerle.jaspers@ntnu.no.
authors.forename: Veerle L B
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Jaspers
authors.affiliation: Ethology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium. Electronic address: annie.pinxten@uantwerp.be.
authors.forename: Rianne
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pinxten
authors.affiliation: Toxicological Centre, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium. Electronic address: adrian.covaci@uantwerp.be.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Covaci
authors.affiliation: Ethology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium. Electronic address: marcel.eens@uantwerp.be.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eens
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001530:Belgium; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000378:metabolism*; D020387:Food Chain; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000378:metabolism; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated / Q000378:metabolism; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls / Q000378:metabolism; D020305:Strigiformes / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D005411:Flame Retardants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls; C089796:hexabromocyclododecane; C020806:tetrabromobisphenol A
keywords: Feather; HBCD; PBDE; Regional variation; TBBPA; Tissue distribution