The aim of this study was first to assess the relevance of a marine sponge, Spongia officinalis, as a biomonitor of PCB. Twenty-four chlorobiphenyl congeners have been measured along a pollution gradient both in sponges and seawater. S. officinalis displays a capacity to accumulate all types of congeners. The highest concentration factors were found for hexa- and heptachlorobiphenyls. Concentrations recorded in sponges agreed quite well with the PCB concentrations of study sites. The prevalence of CB138 and CB153 definitely demonstrated the urban origin of the PCB detected, despite the ban on their production and the existence of a wastewater treatment plant since 1987. The CB138/CB153 ratio is approximately 1.2 in commercial mixtures as well as in seawater. In sponges, this ratio varies strongly in space and time, from 1 in sponges at the most polluted site to 0.3 at the reference site. This change in the ratio of these two very persistent congeners, which is not observed in seawater, indicates a metabolism of CB138 in sponges. As it was recently demonstrated for nonpersistent organic contaminants, sponges might well be able to degrade PCB, but further work is needed to identify the processes involved.

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Lichen samples from contrasted environments, influenced by various anthropic activities, were investigated focusing on the contaminant signatures according to the atmospheric exposure typologies. Most of the contaminant concentrations measured in the 27 lichen samples, collected around the industrial harbor of Fos-sur-Mer (France), were moderate in rural and urban environments, and reached extreme levels in industrial areas and neighboring cities (Al up to 6567 mg kg, Fe 42,398 mg kg, or ΣPAH 1417 μg kg for example). At the same time, a strong heterogeneity was noticed in industrial samples while urban and rural ones were relatively homogeneous. Several metals could be associated to steel industry (Fe, Mn, Cd), road traffic, and agriculture (Sb, Cu, Sn), or to a distinct chemical installation (Mo). As well, PCDFs dominated in industrial samples while PCDDs prevailed in urban areas. The particularities observed supported the purpose of this work and discriminated the contributions of various atmospheric pollution emission sources in lichen samples. A statistical approach based on principal component analysis (PCA) was applied and resolved these potential singularities into specific component factors. Even if a certain degree of mixing of the factors is pointed out, relevant relationships were observed with several atmospheric emission sources. By this methodology, the contribution of industrial emissions to the atmospheric metal, PAH, PCB, and PCDD/F levels was roughly estimated to be 60.2%, before biomass burning (10.2%) and road traffic (3.8%). These results demonstrate that lichen biomonitoring offers an encouraging perspective of spatially resolved source apportionment studies.

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New Caledonia is one of the main hot spots of biodiversity on the planet. Large amounts of contaminants are discharged into the lagoon as a result of increasing anthropogenic activities such as intense mining, urbanization, and industrialization. Concentrations of 14 trace elements and 26 persistent organic pollutants (POPs: PCBs and pesticides) were measured in the muscles of two anguilliform fish species, over a coast to barrier reef gradient in two lagoon areas differently exposed to anthropic disturbances. This study emphasizes the high trace element contamination status of anguilliform fish and also highlights slight but perceptible organic pollution. The contamination extends throughout the lagoon, from coast to barrier reef, even in areas remote from emission points. High levels of trace elements, especially those linked to mining activities (i.e., Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, and Ni), were detected in coastal sites. Furthermore, the large dispersion of most POPs throughout the entire lagoon poses the question of their potential toxicity on marine organisms from numerous habitats. Our results underline the need for long-term monitoring of various contaminants over large spatial and time scales.

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In this paper sixteen Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are estimated in sediments in five locations along Diyala River where entering Baghdad city until flows into Tigris River, (PAHs) are organic compounds that contain two or more fused rings. Some of these compounds are classified as carcinogenic and mutagenic pollutants. Soxhlet technique is used in this work to extract PAHs from sediment samples with using methylene chloride as extraction solvent. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with UV-Vis detector is used for determination of PAHs. According to the results the maximum of total PAHs concentration in the sediment are found in the location No. 4 with1211.22mg/kg in summer and 211312 mg/kg in winter, while the minimum of total PAHs concentration are found in location No. 1 with 44342 mg/kg in summer and 14322 mg/kg in winter. Locations numbers two three and five record values of total PAHs concentration with (141311, 122341 and 011322 mg/kg) respectively in summer and (11340, 122342 and 121311 mg/kg) respectively in winter. Naphthalene, Fluorene, Anthracene and Fluoranthene are the most dominant compounds in summer, while Benzo [k] fluoranthene, Benzo [a] pyrene, Benzo [ghi] perylene, Dibenz [a,h] anthracene and Indino [121cd] pyreneare the least compounds presence in all sites.

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