Novel flame retardants (N-FRs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs) in fish, penguin, and skua from King George Island, Antarctica.
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are frequently detected in biota from Antarctica, whereas no data are available for their replacements, such as novel flame retardants (N-FRs). This study presented the occurrence of several N-FRs, PBDEs, and PCBs in tissue samples of an Antarctic rock cod (Trematomus bernacchii), a young gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua), and a brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus) collected from King George Island. The total concentrations of N-FRs (ΣN-FRs; mean: 931 pg/g dry weight (dw)) were comparable to PBDEs (Σ8PBDEs; 681 pg/gdw), which were much lower than PCBs (ΣDL-PCBs; 12,800 pg/gdw). Overall, skua contained two to three orders of magnitude higher contamination than penguin and fish. In the future, more attention should be focused on the fate of N-FRs in Antarctica, where usages have increased since PBDEs were banned. To our knowledge, this is the first report of N-FRs in biota from Antarctica.
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute for Coastal Research, Geesthacht 21502, Germany.
Hendrik
H
Wolschke
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: xzmeng@tongji.edu.cn.
Xiang-Zhou
XZ
Meng
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute for Coastal Research, Geesthacht 21502, Germany.
Zhiyong
Z
Xie
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute for Coastal Research, Geesthacht 21502, Germany.
Ralf
R
Ebinghaus
SOA Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China. Electronic address: Caiminghong@pric.gov.cn.
Minghong
M
Cai
D000818:Animals; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D046091:Charadriiformes / Q000378:metabolism*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis*; D062312:Islands; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D046429:Spheniscidae / Q000378:metabolism*
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D005411:Flame Retardants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
Antarctica; Bioaccumulation; Dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls; Novel brominated flame retardants; Polybrominated diphenyl ethers