Bioaccumulation of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in a tropical estuarine food web
Miranda, DA; Benskin, JP; Awad, R; Lepoint, G; Leonel, J; Hatje, V
2021
| Sci. Total Environ.
| 754
biomagnification
,
brazil
,
os-santos bay
,
perfluorinated compounds
,
perfluoroalkyl acids pfaas
,
perfluorooctane sulfonate
,
persistent organic pollutants
,
pfos precursors
,
pops
,
sulfluramid use
,
tissue distribution
,
todos os santos bay
,
trace-metal contamination
,
trophic magnification factors
,
tropical food web
The biomagnification of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) was investigated in a tropical mangrove food web from an estuary in Bahia, Brazil. Samples of 44 organisms (21 taxa), along with biofilm, leaves, sediment and suspended particulate matter were analyzed. Sum (Sigma) PFAS concentrations in biota samples were dominated by perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS, 93% detection frequency in tissues; 0.05 to 1.97 ng g(-1) ww whole-body (wb)), followed by perfluorotridecanoate (PFTrDA, 57%; 0.01 to 0.28 ng g(-1) ww wb). PFOS precursors such as perfluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA, 54%; 0.01 to 0.32 ng g(-1) ww wb) and N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamide (EtFOSA; 30%; 0.01 to 0.21 ng g(-1) ww wb) were also detected. PFAS accumulation profiles revealed different routes of exposure among bivalve, crustacean and fish groups. Statistics for left-censored data were used in order to minimize bias on trophic magnification factors (TMFs) calculations. TMFs >1 were observed for PFOS (linear + branched isomers), EtFOSA (linear + branched isomers), and perfluorononanoate (PFNA), and in all cases, dissimilar accumulation patterns were observed among different trophic positions. The apparent biodilution of some long-chain PFCAs through the food chain (TMF < 1) may be due to exposure from multiple PFAS sources. This is the first study investigating bioaccumulation of PFASs in a tropical food web and provides new insight on the behavior of this ubiquitous class of contaminants. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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Weathering Plastics as a Planetary Boundary Threat: Exposure, Fate, and Hazards
Arp, HPH; Kuhnel, D; Rummel, C; MacLeod, M; Potthoff, A; Reichelt, S; Rojo-Nieto, E; Schmitt-Jansen, M; Sonnenberg, J; Toorman, E; Jahnke, A
We described in 2017 how weathering plastic litter in the marine environment fulfils two of three criteria to impose a planetary boundary threat related to "chemical pollution and the release of novel entities": (1) planetary-scale exposure, which (2) is not readily reversible. Whether marine plastics meet the third criterion, (3) eliciting a disruptive impact on vital earth system processes, was uncertain. Since then, several important discoveries have been made to motivate a re-evaluation. A key issue is if weathering macroplastics, microplastics, nanoplastics, and their leachates have an inherently higher potential to elicit adverse effects than natural particles of the same size. We summarize novel findings related to weathering plastic in the context of the planetary boundary threat criteria that demonstrate (1) increasing exposure, (2) fate processes leading to poorly reversible pollution, and (3) (eco)toxicological hazards and their thresholds. We provide evidence that the third criterion could be fulfilled for weathering plastics in sensitive environments and therefore conclude that weathering plastics pose a planetary boundary threat. We suggest future research priorities to better understand (eco)toxicological hazards modulated by increasing exposure and continuous weathering processes, to better parametrize the planetary boundary threshold for plastic pollution.
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2020
| Geophys Res Lett
| 48
(4)
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