title: Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in terrestrial environments in Greenland and Faroe Islands.
abstract: Perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFASs) have been measured in liver samples from terrestrial organisms from Greenland and the Faeroe Islands. Samples from ptarmigan (West Greenland), reindeer (southwest-Greenland), muskox (East Greenland), and land-locked Arctic char from southwest Greenland and the Faroe Islands were analyzed. In addition, PFASs levels in land-locked brown trout from Faroese lakes are reported. Of the 17 PFASs analyzed in the samples the following compounds were detected: PFOS, PFNA, PFDA, PFUnA, PFDoA, PFTrA, and PFTeA. PFNA was the compound detected in most samples and in all species. However, the compound detected at highest concentration was dependent on species, with overall highest concentrations of PFTrA and PFUnA being detected in trout liver from Lake á Mýranar (Faroe Islands). In muskox, the PFAS occurring at highest concentrations was PFDA, which was among the PFAS detected at lowest concentrations in freshwater fish, and was only detected in one individual ptarmigan. The concentration of PFOS, PFDoA and PFTrA in Arctic char from Greenland and Faroe Islands were similar, whereas the concentration of PFNA, PFDA and PFUnA were higher in Arctic char than those from Greenland. The opposite was observed for PFTeA. The PFASs occurring at highest concentrations in trout were PFTrA and PFUnA. Arctic char from Lake á Mýranar had much lower concentrations of PFTrA and PFUnA than in trout from the lakes analyzed, but a higher concentration of PFTeA than trout from the same lake. A clear pattern with odd-carbon number homologues concentrations higher than the next lower even homologue was observed in fish samples, which is consistent with the hypothesis of transport of volatile precursors to remote regions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Arctic Research Centre (ARC), Frederiksborgvej 399, PO Box 358, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark. Electronic address: rbo@envs.au.dk.
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bossi
authors.affiliation: Environment Agency, PO Box 2048, FO-165 Argir, Faroe Islands.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dam
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Arctic Research Centre (ARC), Frederiksborgvej 399, PO Box 358, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark.
authors.forename: Frank F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Rigét
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003718:Denmark; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005399:Fishes; D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D006116:Greenland; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry*; D014337:Trout
chemical_list: D005466:Fluorocarbons
keywords: Faroe Islands; Greenland; PFASs; Terrestrial animals