(Table 1) Concentrations of organic pollutants in soil samples from Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colonies and reference sites, Hop Island, Antarctica

DOI

Although long-range atmospheric transport has been described as the predominant mechanism for exposing polar regions to persistent organic pollutants (POPs), recent studies have suggested that bird activity can also contribute substantially to contaminant levels in some environments. However, because the species so far reported have all been migratory, it has not been demonstrated conclusively whether locally elevated contamination represents transport from lower latitudes by the migrating birds or, alternatively, redistribution and concentration of contaminants that were already present in the high-latitude environments. The present study demonstrates, for the first time, that several POPs are present in elevated concentrations in an environment frequented by a non-migratory species (Adelie penguins) that spends its entire life in the Antarctic. Levels of POPs, such as p,p'-DDE, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), chlordanes (CHLs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), were 10 to 100-fold higher in soil samples from penguin colonies than from reference areas. This significant difference is likely related to local penguin activity, such as a higher abundance of guano and the presence of bird carcasses. This hypothesis is also supported by a higher percentage of persistent congeners (PCB 99, 118, 138 and 153) in the soil from the colonies compared to the reference areas. This profile of PCB congeners closely matched profiles seen in penguin eggs or penguin blood.

All concentrations given per g dry weight. 1 pg/g = 1/1000 ng/g = 1/1000 µg/kg = 1/1000000 µg/g. Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150

Supplement to: Roosens, Laurence; Van Den Brink, Nico W; Riddle, Martin J; Blust, Ronny; Neels, Hugo; Covaci, Adrian (2007): Penguin colonies as secondary sources of contamination with persistent organic pollutants. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 9(8), 822

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.819304
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1039/b708103k
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.819304
Provenance
Creator Roosens, Laurence; Van Den Brink, Nico W ORCID logo; Riddle, Martin J; Blust, Ronny; Neels, Hugo (ORCID: 0000-0002-9034-168X); Covaci, Adrian ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2007
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Supplementary Dataset; Dataset
Format text/tab-separated-values
Size 186 data points
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (77.700 LON, -68.833 LAT); Prydz Bay