Brominated flame retardants and organochlorines in the European environment using great tit eggs as a biomonitoring tool

TY - JOUR

T1 - Brominated flame retardants and organochlorines in the European environment using great tit eggs as a biomonitoring tool

AU - Van den Steen, Evi

AU - Pinxten, Rianne

AU - Jaspers, Veerle L. B.

AU - Covaci, Adrian

AU - Barba, Emilio

AU - Carere, Claudio

AU - Cichon, Mariusz

AU - Dubiec, Anna

AU - Eeva, Tapio

AU - Heeb, Philipp

AU - Kempenaers, Bart

AU - Lifjeld, Jan T.

AU - Lubjuhn, Thomas

AU - Mand, Raivo

AU - Massa, Bruno

AU - Nilsson, Jan-Åke

AU - Norte, Ana Claudia

AU - Orell, Markku

AU - Podzemny, Petr

AU - Sanz, Juan Jose

AU - Senar, Juan Carlos

AU - Soler, Juan Jose

AU - Sorace, Alberto

AU - Török, Janos

AU - Visser, Marcel E.

AU - Winkel, Wolfgang

AU - Eens, Marcel

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - Large-scale studies are essential to assess the emission patterns and spatial distribution of organohalogenated pollutants (OHPs) in the environment. Bird eggs have several advantages compared to other environmental media which have previously been used to map the distribution of OHPs. In this study, large-scale geographical variation in the occurrence of OHPs, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), was investigated throughout Europe using eggs of a terrestrial residential passerine species, the great tit (Parus major). Great tit eggs from 22 sampling sites, involving urban, rural and remote areas, in 14 European countries were collected and analysed (5-8 eggs per sampling site). The environmentally most important congeners/compounds of the analysed pollutants were detectable in all sampling locations. For PCBs, PBDEs and OCPs, no clear geographical contamination pattern was found. Sum PCB levels ranged from 143 ng/g lipid weight (lw) to 3660 ng/g lw. As expected, PCB concentrations were significantly higher in the sampled urban compared to the remote locations. However, the urban locations did not show significantly higher concentrations compared to the rural locations. Sum PBDEs ranged from 4.0 ng/g lw to 136 ng/g lw. PBDEs were significantly higher in the urbanized sampling locations compared to the other locations. The significant, positive correlation between PCB and PBDE concentrations suggests similar spatial exposure and/or mechanisms of accumulation. Significantly higher levels of OCPs (sum OCPs ranging from 191 ng/g lw to 7830 ng/g lw) were detected in rural sampling locations. Contamination profiles of PCBs, PBDEs and OCPs differed also among the sampling locations, which may be due to local usage and contamination sources. The higher variance among sampling locations for the PCBs and OCPs, suggests that local contamination sources are more important for the PCBs and OCPs compared to the PBDEs. To our knowledge, this is the first study in which bird eggs were used as a monitoring tool for CHPs on such a large geographical scale. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

AB - Large-scale studies are essential to assess the emission patterns and spatial distribution of organohalogenated pollutants (OHPs) in the environment. Bird eggs have several advantages compared to other environmental media which have previously been used to map the distribution of OHPs. In this study, large-scale geographical variation in the occurrence of OHPs, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), was investigated throughout Europe using eggs of a terrestrial residential passerine species, the great tit (Parus major). Great tit eggs from 22 sampling sites, involving urban, rural and remote areas, in 14 European countries were collected and analysed (5-8 eggs per sampling site). The environmentally most important congeners/compounds of the analysed pollutants were detectable in all sampling locations. For PCBs, PBDEs and OCPs, no clear geographical contamination pattern was found. Sum PCB levels ranged from 143 ng/g lipid weight (lw) to 3660 ng/g lw. As expected, PCB concentrations were significantly higher in the sampled urban compared to the remote locations. However, the urban locations did not show significantly higher concentrations compared to the rural locations. Sum PBDEs ranged from 4.0 ng/g lw to 136 ng/g lw. PBDEs were significantly higher in the urbanized sampling locations compared to the other locations. The significant, positive correlation between PCB and PBDE concentrations suggests similar spatial exposure and/or mechanisms of accumulation. Significantly higher levels of OCPs (sum OCPs ranging from 191 ng/g lw to 7830 ng/g lw) were detected in rural sampling locations. Contamination profiles of PCBs, PBDEs and OCPs differed also among the sampling locations, which may be due to local usage and contamination sources. The higher variance among sampling locations for the PCBs and OCPs, suggests that local contamination sources are more important for the PCBs and OCPs compared to the PBDEs. To our knowledge, this is the first study in which bird eggs were used as a monitoring tool for CHPs on such a large geographical scale. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

KW - Polychlorinated biphenyls

KW - Polybrominated diphenyl ethers

KW - Organochlorine pesticides

KW - Great tit

KW - Europe

KW - Eggs

KW - Biomonitoring

U2 - 10.1016/j.envint.2008.08.002

DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2008.08.002

M3 - Article

VL - 35

SP - 310

EP - 317

JO - Environmental International

JF - Environmental International

SN - 1873-6750

IS - 2

ER -