Survey of patterns, levels, and trends of perfluorinated compounds in aquatic organisms and bird eggs from representative German ecosystems

Abstract

Generally, PFC levels were lower in marine than in freshwater biota. PFC burdens were higher in biota from the ESB-North Sea sites than in Baltic Sea organisms. Levels of PFC were quite high especially in top predators of both limnetic and marine ecosystems. Only low PFC levels were detected in eggs of terrestrial birds. A decrease of PFOS levels from maximum values around the year 2000 observed at least in North Sea biota may be a result of a production cease and shifts in marketing pattern.

What is the effect of phasing out long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on the concentrations of perfluoroalkyl acids and their precursors in the environment? A systematic review

“…Interestingly, when we compared these with our statistical analyses (Additional file 7, Figures S8-S10) we found 11 datasets showing clearly diverging results (tawny owl [11], polar bear (Ittoqqortoormiit) [124], beluga (Cook Inlet) [123], polar bear (Barrow) [132], herring [139], eel (Haringvliet East, Lobith [107]), herring gull (Heuwiese [80], Mellum-3 sets [80,105,128]). In eight cases, our statistical analyses resulted in insignificant trends, with low power to detect a trend, whereas the authors found significantly decreasing trends in seven (tawny owl [11], eel (Haringvliet East, Lobith [107]), herring gull (Heuwiese [80]), herring gull (Mellum-3 datasets [80,105,128]) and significantly increasing trends in one of these datasets (polar bear, Barrow [132]). For one dataset (polar bear (Ittoqqortoormiit [124]), our results showed no significant trends on either side of the change point but statistically significantly higher concentrations after the change point, whereas the authors found a significant increasing trend before the change point and significant decreasing trend after.…”

“…The muscle data will be discussed here as there were more time points available for this tissue compared to liver. Herring gulls from three colonies (Heuwise, Mellum, Trischen) on the German coast have also been the subject of three separate studies ( [80,105,128]). Again, these are built on the same material by adding more samples and extending the time period studied.…”

“…Of the 33 change point datasets, 13 were found to have change points, and 20 showed no change point. Within the group of 13 studies exhibiting change points, seven studies showed decreasing concentrations after the change point (roe deer [79], polar bear liver [134], herring gull eggs (Trischen) [80], northern sea otter [42], beluga whale [123], eelpout [128], and herring [139]). Four studies exhibited insignificant change both prior and post change point (polar bear [124], grey seal [106], herring gull eggs (Mellum) [80], guillemot eggs [94]).…”

“…Of the 20 datasets without a detectable change point, five exhibited increasing PFOS concentrations over time (otter [125], herring gull egg (Heuwise) [105], white tailed sea eagle [100], ringed seal (E. Greenland) [124], blue mussel (Königshafen) [128]) and continuously decreasing concentrations were seen in blue mussels (Eckwardershörne) [128]. The remaining 14 datasets showed no significant changes over time but the power to detect such trends was below optimum (< 0.8) (tawny owl [11], lake trout [86], harbor porpoise (Baltic Sea, North Sea [96], North Sea/Denmark [82]), ringed seal (Qeqertarsuaq) [124], harbor seal (Maine) [131], double-crested cormorant [112], great blue heron (Fraser R.) [112], northern fulmar, thick-billed murre [40], eelpout (2 sites) [128], blue mussels (Darsser Ort) [128]).…”

“…The remaining 14 datasets showed no significant changes over time but the power to detect such trends was below optimum (< 0.8) (tawny owl [11], lake trout [86], harbor porpoise (Baltic Sea, North Sea [96], North Sea/Denmark [82]), ringed seal (Qeqertarsuaq) [124], harbor seal (Maine) [131], double-crested cormorant [112], great blue heron (Fraser R.) [112], northern fulmar, thick-billed murre [40], eelpout (2 sites) [128], blue mussels (Darsser Ort) [128]). …”