Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in oriental magpie-robins from e-waste, urban, and rural sites: Site-specific biomagnification of POPs

Abstract

Plenty of banned and emerging persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), dechlorane plus (DP), and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE), were measured in oriental magpie-robins from an e-waste recycling site, an urban site (Guangzhou City), and a rural site in South China. Median concentrations of DDTs, PCBs, PBDEs, DP, and DBDPE ranged from 1,000–1,313, 800-59,368, 244-5,740, 24.1–127, and 14.7–36.0 ng/g lipid weight, respectively. Birds from the e-waste site had significantly higher concentrations of PCBs and PBDEs than those from urban and rural sites (p < 0.05), implying contamination of PCBs and PBDEs brought by e-waste recycling activities. DDTs were the predominant POPs in birds from urban and rural sites. The values of δ15N were significantly and positively correlated with concentrations of p,p′-DDE and low-halogenated chemicals in samples from the e-waste site (p < 0.05), indicating the trophic magnification of these chemicals in birds. However, concentrations of most POPs were not significantly correlated with the δ15N values in birds from urban and rural sites. PCBs and PBDEs in birds from urban and rural sites were not likely from local sources, and the biomagnification of POPs in different sites needed to be further investigated with caution.