Abstract
The aim of the present work was to determine the concentration levels, as well as accumulation and magnification coefficients, of triazine derivatives in herring gulls and Baltic grey seals 11 years after a ban on their use in the EU and eight after their exclusion in Poland. Dead birds were collected in the coastal zone of the Gulf of Gdansk in the years 2010–2012. The grey seals, on the other hand, were from before 2007, when s-triazine derivatives were still in use. Triazine herbicides (atrazine, simazine, propazine, terbutrine, prometrone, prometrine and ametrine) were found in the muscles and livers of birds and mammals and also in fish. The obtained results indicated the presence of all the assayed triazines in whole Baltic herring and their livers, while fish muscles were found to be free of prometrone and ametrine. In the muscles and liver of the grey seal, no ametrine, propazine or terbutrine were found, while prometrine was found in the liver of only one specimen. Research showed that simazine did not accumulate and magnify in marine birds and mammals. Atrazine became accumulated in the liver of birds and mammals while magnification was determined in their muscles. The accumulation of ametrine was found in the muscles of seals.
Highlights
The environmental pollution of the Baltic Sea with organic compounds is a problem frequently pointed out in scientific papers (Falkowska et al 2013; Nödler et al 2013; Reindl et al 2013a, b; Usydus et al 2009) as well as in HELCOM (2011, 2010) and EEA reports (2010). This group of harmful substances includes organic chlorine compounds such as pesticides, fungicides and herbicides, which are produced and used on land, transported via rivers and the atmosphere to the marine environment
To determine triazine derivatives in biological material, organochlorine herbicide standards supplied by Supelco (high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) area ≥99.5 %) were used
In the muscles and liver of the grey seal, which feeds on herring, no ametrine, propazine or terbutrine were found, while prometrine was detected in the liver of just one specimen
Summary
The environmental pollution of the Baltic Sea with organic compounds is a problem frequently pointed out in scientific papers (Falkowska et al 2013; Nödler et al 2013; Reindl et al 2013a, b; Usydus et al 2009) as well as in HELCOM (2011, 2010) and EEA reports (2010). Triazine herbicides block the flow of electrons in photosystem II, which disrupts the process, resulting in the killing of the weed. These compounds undergo metabolic transformations in plants through oxidation or de-alkylation (Strong et al 2002). Owing to the high solubility of herbicides, their usage in agrotechnical procedures resulted in their
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