Congener-specific analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in white-tailed sea eagles Haliaeetus albicilla collected in Poland

Abstract

The concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) congeners including highly toxic non-, mono-, and di-ortho coplanar members as well as their pattern were determined in breast muscles of white-tailed sea eagles collected dead between 1982 and 1990 in Poland. There was a wide variation in total PCB residue concentrations among eagles from various breeding sites, with the Baltic Sea coast registering the highest concentrations. The pattern of PCB residues differed between the eagles examined. Hexa-, hepta-, and pentachlorobiphenyls contributed between 45 and 56%, 18-and 37%, and 9 and 22% in total PCBs, respectively. Toxic equivalents (TEQs) of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) for non-, mono-, and di-ortho coplanar PCBs were very high (8.0–72 μg/g wet wt) in white-tailed sea eagles from breeding sites of the coastal area of the southwestern Baltic Sea, and were relatively lower (0.69–4.0 μg/g wet wt) in other birds, including two specimens from breeding sites of inland Poland, which died because of acute lead poisoning. PCB IUPAC Nos. 118, 105, 126, and 156 were the highest contributors to the TCDD TEQ of coplanar members, occupying between 39.1 and 57.0%, 9.8 and 17.5%, 7.4 and 22.3%, and 7.0 and 14.2%, respectively. The concentrations of coplanar PCBs in adult white-tailed sea eagles were the highest ever reported in wildlife, but that of total PCBs were similar to those reported in dead eagles from the breeding sites of the coastal area of the northern Baltic in Sweden and Finland in the 1960s and 1970s.