Abstract
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) continue to threaten aquatic organisms, but risk assessments are restricted by poor knowledge of the distribution and quantity of these substances in different biota. Assessments on aquatic invertebrates are particularly scarce. Here, we investigate variation in polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorines (OCs) in sediments, biofilms, macroinvertebrates and fish across rivers in South Wales (UK). Persistent PCB (−118, −153, −180) and PBDE congeners (BDE-47, -99, −100), and OCs (p,p’-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene [p,p’-DDE] and dieldrin [HEOD]) dominated the POPs detected, indicating links to historical emissions. Low concentrations of less persistent PBDEs, PCBs and OCs, however, suggest more contemporary sources. Concentrations of POPs were 2–22 times greater in fish than invertebrates, but their detection frequency (>90%) and concentrations (0–304 ng g−1 wet weight) were higher in these organisms than in sediments or biofilms (<10%; 0–12 ng g−1 wet weight). Invertebrates and fish also contained several PCB congeners (28, 52, 77 and 105) and p,p’-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p,p’-DDT) that were not detected in the environmental samples. Concentrations of PBDEs, PCBs and OCs differed among invertebrate taxa and feeding guilds. After controlling for significant variation among sample types and taxa, PBDEs were found to increase with urban land cover, while increased PCBs were associated with urban land cover and wastewater discharge. These data illustrate how body burdens of POPs across invertebrate and fish taxa provide valuable information on the spatial variation and likely sources of persistent pollutants in freshwater ecosystems. More work is required to resolve differences in POP contamination between taxonomic groups.
Highlights
A wide range of xenobiotic or anthropogenic chemicals from both legacy and contemporaneous sources occur in most aquatic environments (Sumpter, 2009; Gavrilescu et al, 2015; Sun et al, 2015)
Samples were dominated by several congeners for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) (47, 99 and 100) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (81, 118, 153, 138, 169, 170 and 180), whereas the composition of OCs was relatively uniform and neither g-HCH nor a-HCH was detected
Variation between sites explained a greater amount of variation in the concentration of PBDEs, PCBs and OCs than catchments, but in neither case were effects statistically significant (Sites: F8,56 1⁄4 21.9, p 1⁄4 0.80; Catchments: F2,64 1⁄4 7.66, p 1⁄4 0.61)
Summary
A wide range of xenobiotic or anthropogenic chemicals from both legacy and contemporaneous sources occur in most aquatic environments (Sumpter, 2009; Gavrilescu et al, 2015; Sun et al, 2015) Such pollutants alone or in mixtures can have harmful effects on aquatic organisms (Wasi et al, 2013; Arnold et al, 2014; Malaj et al, 2014), in some cases altering species communities or food webs (Windsor et al, 2018). The hydrophobic nature of many POPS means that they accumulate in organic matter, lipid-rich sediments or biota (Geyer et al, 2000) For this reason, aquatic organisms offer potential advantages for studies investigating the concentration and composition of POPs through time and space (Van der Oost et al, 2003; Scha€fer et al, 2015). Tissue concentrations of pollutants in organisms with small home ranges or limited dispersal can reveal specific sources of pollution while those with larger territories or those abundant enough to be sampled at multiple locations can integrate pollution signals across whole regions (Ormerod et al, 2000; Van der Oost et al, 2003; Morrissey et al, 2010)
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