Several of the legacies Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are decreasing in the Arctic biota. Due to international regulations, in addition to better waste treatments, legacy pesticides and legacy industrial organochlorines and by-products have decreased in Arctic biota during the last two to three decades. There are unfortunately not many good temporal trend series monitoring POPs in the Arctic. However, literature reviews made by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) concludes that ”levels of POPs in the Arctic environment are generally lower than in more temperate regions”. The “levels of some POPs are decreasing in most species and media in the Arctic” (AMAP Assessment report 1998: Arctic Pollution Issues; AMAP Assessment 2002: Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Arctic).
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MAP Info Service Pollution Contaminants in birds
MAP Info Service Pollution Contaminants in birds
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Pollution. Contaminants in birds
Decreasing levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Arctic
Several of the legacies Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are decreasing in the Arctic biota. Due to international regulations, in addition to better waste treatments, legacy pesticides and legacy industrial organochlorines and by-products have decreased in Arctic biota during the last two to three decades. There are unfortunately not many good temporal trend series monitoring POPs in the Arctic. However, literature reviews made by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) concludes that ”levels of POPs in the Arctic environment are generally lower than in more temperate regions”. The “levels of some POPs are decreasing in most species and media in the Arctic” (AMAP Assessment report 1998: Arctic Pollution Issues; AMAP Assessment 2002: Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Arctic).Last Updated ( Monday, 06 September 2010 09:50 )
Read more...Persistent organic pollutants (POPs). General comments
Two large reviews from Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program has concluded that ”levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Arctic environment are generally lower than in more temperate regions” (AMAP 1997, 2002). The highest levels of POPs are found in predatory and scavenger seabird species as the great-black backed gull, glaucous gulls and great skua.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 09:03 )
Read more...Heavy metals. General comments
Generally low levels of heavy metals are found in the different seabird species from the Barents Sea area. The only exception is Arsenic which is found in extremely high levels in Chernaya Guba in Novaya Zemlya where nuclear tests were carried out in the 1960s. Thus, except for Arsenic, the levels of heavy metals reported in these contaminant maps seem to be a result of natural accumulation and st...
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 08:39 )
Read more...Persistent organic pollutants in seabird eggs. ΣPFS – sum of 4 individual perfluorinated surfactans and ΣPFCA – sum of 10 individual perfluorinated carboxylic acids
Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) refer to a class of organofluorine compounds that have all hydrogens replaced with fluorine on a carbon chain—but also contain at least one different atom or functional group.
They are widely used, as their unique properties make them suitable for staining and to make materials oil- and water-resistant. PFCs persist in the environment, but unlike PCBs, they are not k...
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 08:41 )
Read more...Persistent organic pollutants in seabird eggs. ΣPBDE – sum of 11 individual polybrominated diphenyl ethers
PBDEs are accumulating in the environment, including humans, and have shown an exponential increase over the past few decades.
The persistence and bioaccumulative characteristics of PBDEs and their similarities to known toxic PCBs, raises concern over potential human health effects, especially during early development.
PBDEs increased in the period from 1983 to 1993 and then leveled out from 1993 to...
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 08:43 )
Read more...Persistent organic pollutants in seabird eggs. HBCDD – sum of 3 individual Hexabromocyclododecane
Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) is a brominated flame retardant.
HBCDD's toxicity and its harm to the environment are currently discussed. In contrast to chlorinated compounds, brominated compounds have been detected in seabird eggs more recently. Measurements in seabird eggs show a significant increase in HBCDD in the period from 1983 to 2006, especially in herring gull, Atlantic puffin and kittiwa...
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 08:44 )
Read more...Persistent organic pollutants in seabird eggs. ΣPCB – sum of 21 individual polychlorinated biphenyls
The PCB makes up the majority of persistent organic pollutants in seabird eggs.
There has been a significant reduction of PCB concentrations in seabird eggs in the period from 1983 to 2003. This reduction is valid for the herring gull and kittiwake species. There was significant difference in PCB concentrations between seabird species. The gannet and herring gull had higher concentrations of PCBs t...
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 08:46 )
Read more...Persistent organic pollutants in seabird eggs. ΣHCH – sum of 3 individual hexachlorocyclohexanes
There has been a significant reduction of HCH concentrations in seabird eggs in the period from 1983 to 2003.
This reduction is valid for herring gull, Atlantic puffin and common guillemot species. The gannet and herring gull had significantly higher concentration of HCH than the other seabird species.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 August 2010 08:49 )
Read more...Persistent organic pollutants in seabird eggs. HCB – hexachlorobenzene
Overall there has been a significant reduction of hexachlorobenzene concentrations in seabird eggs during the time period from 1983 to 2003.
This reduction is apparent in herring gull, common guillemot and kittiwake and may also occur in other seabird species. The common eider had significant lower concentration of hexachlorobenzene than the other seabird species. The hexachlorobenzene concentratio...
Last Updated ( Monday, 25 January 2010 11:11 )
Read more...
More Articles...
- Persistent organic pollutants in liver. ΣPCB – sum of 21 individual polychlorinated biphenyls
- Persistent organic pollutants in liver. ΣHCH – sum of 3 individual hexachlorocyclohexanes
- Persistent organic pollutants in liver. ΣDDT – sum of 5 individual dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethanes
- Persistent organic pollutants in liver. ΣCHL – sum of 5 individual chlordanes
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Status Report. The authors
More than 100 experts from a total of 9 Russian and 20 Norwegian institutions have participated in the preparation of the report, and the work has been organized in 13 expert groups. The work has been led by Sevmorgeo and PINRO on Russian side and on Norwegian side by the Institute of Marine Research and the Norwegian Polar Institute..
Find author name here...The Russian - Norwegian cooperation
BarentsPortal is a project developed under the Joint Russian - Norwegian Commission on Environmental Cooperation. The joint environmental report is a co-operation project between the Joint Russian - Norwegian Commission on Environmental Cooperation and the Joint Russian-Norwegian Fisheries Commission
Contaminants in seabird. Metadata
The level of contaminants in the Barents region marine environment (biota and sediment) has been documented during the last decades both by Russian and Norwegian scientists. Lately, new compounds has been observed and documented in frame of national and international monitoring programs. However, the documentation of contaminants trends has been fragmented and somewhat difficult to follow, and there has been limited compilation and presentation of such data.
BarentsPortal financed in 2009 a project with goals just to do a compilation of the most relevant Russian and Norwegian contaminants data on seabirds in the Barents Sea, and presents them in overview maps.The are currently no maps available in the MAP Service.
What are POPs?
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are organic chemical substances, that is, they are carbon-based. They possess a particular combination of physical and chemical properties such that, once released into the environment, they:
- remain intact for exceptionally long periods of time (many years)
- are toxic to both humans and wildlife
What are Heavy metals?
Some heavy metals elements are very toxic for humans and wildlife. They are carcinogenic or toxic, affecting, among others, the central nervous system (Mn, Hg, Pb, As), the kidneys or liver (Hg, Pb, Cd, Cu) or skin, bones, or teeth (Ni, Cd, Cu, Cr).
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