Persistent organic pollutants in Antarctic notothenioid fish and invertebrates associated with trophic levels

Abstract

Notothenioid fish and invertebrate samples from Antarctica were collected in the austral summer of 2009, and analyzed for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs), as well as δ13C and δ15N stable isotopes for trophic level determination. In this study, the POP levels in the Antarctic biota samples were found to be ranked in the following order: OCPs > PAHs >> PBDEs. The POP levels in notothenioid fish and krill correlate to trophic levels; however, the POP concentrations in intertidal benthic invertebrates are higher than in notothenioid fish implying that specific biogeochemical factors may affect bioaccumulation in the Antarctica ecosystem. Biomagnification of POPs may have a smaller role than bioconcentration in Antarctica environment. In addition to the source, transport, exposure, and absorption for each group of POPs in the short food chain in Antarctica, the biological variation among species, interaction habitats, diet and metabolism are also factors for future studies on contaminant bioaccumulation.

Legacy and Emerging Persistent Organic Pollutants in Antarctic Benthic Invertebrates near Rothera Point, Western Antarctic Peninsula

“…The concentrations measured in the current study were all well below concentrations found in the same or similar species in previous studies in Antarctica: PCB concentrations in the limpets were up to 30 times lower than the values reported in the same species from Princess Elizabeth Land in 2018, and in urchins they were up to 30 or even 60 times lower than those from Adélie Land in 2009 and Princess Elizabeth Land in 1995, respectively.…”

“…14 Moreover, sessile benthic organisms may provide the potential to identify local sources of POPs, such as research stations 15 and touristic ships. 16,17 A few reports on POPs in various Antarctic benthic species exist, for instance around Dumont d'Urville station (Adelie Land), 18 Davis station (Princess Elizabeth Land), 19 and Zucchelli station (Terra Nova Bay). 20 Unfortunately, the contribution of invertebrate samples to these studies was small, the proximity to the research stations as a potential contamination source was not always taken into account, and all of these studies were conducted in Eastern Antarctica.…”

Accumulation of PBDEs and MeO-PBDEs in notothenioid fish from the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: An interspecies comparative study

“…PBDEs can be spread away from emission sources through long-range atmospheric and/or water transport as a gas phase, dissolved, and/or associated with particulate matter (Gouin et al, 2006). Cold-condensation and cold-trapping are the main mechanisms whereby organic chemicals reach polar regions (Wania and Westgate, 2008;Ko et al, 2018). Due to their physicochemical properties, PBDEs can accumulate in the biota and biomagnify through the food web in polar regions (De Wit et al, 2010;Ríos et al, 2017).…”

“…The perciform suborder Notothenioidei is the dominant group of the Antarctic ichthyofauna (i.e., 129 species) in terms of diversity (35%), abundance, and biomass, comprising 97% of endemic species (Near et al 2015). Notothenioid fish are mostly demersal and have developed a variety of feeding behaviours, including a wide range of prey and diversity of benthic, epibenthic, nektonic, and planktonic organisms (Daniels, 1982;Barrera-Oro, 2002;Ko et al, 2018). The Antarctic notothenioids, blackfin icefish Chaenocephalus aceratus [(Lönnberg 1906), acronym: SSI], emerald rockcod Trematomus bernacchii [(Boulenger 1902), acronym: ERN], and yellowfin notie Nototheniops nudifrons [(Lönnberg 1905), acronym: NOD] are demersal and typical representatives of the western Antarctic Peninsula ichthyofauna (Kock 1992).…”

Potential Benefits of Acanthocephalan Parasites for Chub Hosts in Polluted Environments

“…Studying the fate of pollutants in host–parasite systems is a challenging task since it requires taking into account biological and chemical factors involved in the ability of each organism to accumulate, metabolize, and excrete organic pollutants. First, chemical uptake and its accumulation inside organisms may vary with the trophic level, length/age, and lipid contents for hydrophobic molecules (i.e., octanol–water partition coefficient: log K OW ). , Second, vertebrates and invertebrates differ strongly in their ability to metabolize xenobiotics, so that the pollutant’s susceptibility to metabolic transformation (log k M ) is expected to affect the fate of pollutant in host–parasite systems. Lastly, the properties of pollutants can affect their distribution inside the studied system .…”