Spatial trends of polyfluorinated compounds in guillemot (Uria aalge) eggs from North-Western Europe

Abstract

Polyfluorinated alkyl compounds (PFCs) are a group of chemicals of growing concern that have been detected in biological and abiotic samples worldwide. This study reports the concentrations of a suite of PFCs: perfluorooctyl sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctyl sulfonamide (PFOSA) and perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) in guillemot (Uria aalge) eggs, collected in North-Western Europe, from Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Sweden and two locations in Norway. The highest concentrations of PFOS were found in samples from Sweden (mean 400ngg−1 wet weight (w.w.)), which were almost five times higher than concentrations found in Norwegian samples (mean 85ngg−1w.w. from both sample sites). The concentrations found in Icelandic and Faroe samples were lowest (mean 16 and 15ngg−1w.w., respectively). Only Swedish samples differed significantly from the other locations. In general, PFCAs show a different spatial trend than PFOS. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was not detected in any sample and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) was only detected in samples from Sweden. The most abundant PFCA was perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUA) with highest concentrations in samples from Sweden (mean 82ngg−1w.w.), samples from the Faroe Islands had the second highest concentration (mean 57ngg−1w.w.) and samples from Iceland and Norway had concentrations ranging between 18 and 30ngg−1w.w. The original hypothesis was based on the idea that PFC concentrations are the highest close to more densely populated and industrialized areas and lower levels in remote areas. However, the geographic pattern is more complicated than predicted and varies among different PFCs.