Persistent organic pollutants in biota samples collected during the Ymer-80 expedition to the Arctic

Figures & data

Fig. 1  Sampling sites in Svalbard. Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) were sampled in the lakes indicated on the map. In western Svalbard, glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) and common eider (Somateria mollissima) were sampled in Isfjorden, mainly around Kapp Linné, and Brünnich's guillemot (Uria lomvia) on Prins Karls Forland. In the north and east, eiders were sampled around Kinnvika on Nordaustlandet, gulls at Kinnvika and Kongsøya, and guillemots on Kongsøya and Hopen.

Table 1 Summary of organochlorine concentrations (µg g⁻¹ lipid) in birds and mammals collected during the Ymer-80 expedition in the northern and eastern (N/E) and western (W) parts of Svalbard. Concentrations of individual analytes in individual samples are presented in Supplementary Tables S4a and S4b.

		HCB	Σ31PCB	Σ6PCB^a	ΣPCT	Oxychlordane	p,p′-DDE	ΣDDT^b	Lipid%
		Mean	Mean	Mean	Mean	Mean	Mean	Mean	Mean
		Median Range	Median Range	Median Range	Median Range	Median Range	Median Range	Median Range	Median Range
Brünnich's guillemot	N/E (n=4)	1.1	11	7.9	ND^c	0.28	6.6	6.7	3.0
		0.55	10	7.0	—	0.13	5.8	5.8	2.7
		0.35–3.0	4.7–20	3.2–14	—	0.11–0.28	3.1–12	3.1–12	2.0–4.6
	W (n=5)	0.39	3.0	2.2	ND	0.14	1.8	1.8	2.8
		0.24	1.4	1.2	—	0.15	1.4	1.4	2.9
		0.13–1.1	0.74–4.3	0.57–5.1	—	0.02–0.28	0.51–3.7	0.98–3.7	2.3–3.0
Glaucous gull	N/E (n=2)	0.88	52	43	ND	0.92	15	15	3.7
		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
		0.50–1.3	5.5–98	4.0–83	—	0.29–1.6	3.1–27	3.2–27	3.1–4.4
	W (n=6)^d	2.7	78	64	23	1.9	29	30	6.7
		2.7	65	50	20	1.7	29	30
		1.2–5.3	38–150	29–120	14–35	1.3–2.7	20–38	20–39	4.4–8.6
Common eider	N/E (n=5)	0.11	1.0	0.75	ND	0.06	0.60	0.64	2.8
		0.11	0.80	0.58	—	0.05	0.46	0.49	3.0
		0.07–0.18	0.41–1.9	0.28–1.5	—	tr^e–0.10	0.24–0.98	0.26–1.1	1.8–4.4
	W (n=5)	0.10	3.1	1.1	17	0.75	0.44	0.48	2.8
		0.09	2.9	1.0	15	0.83	0.33	1.0	3.1
		0.06–0.15	2.3–4.3	0.65–2.0	8.0–29	0.10–1.4	0.17–1.0	0.20–1.1	2.0–3.4
Ringed seal	N/E (n=2)	0.02	2.4	1.1	ND	0.22	0.07	0.8	93
		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
		0.01–0.02	1.6–3.2	0.65–1.6	—	0.09–0.34	0.06–0.08	0.61–0.99	90–96
Polar bear	N/E (n=2)	—	140	130	ND	4.4	—	—	1.0
		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
		ND–0.06	3.5–280	3.2–260	—	0.11–8.6	M^f–33	M–0.40	0.77–1.3

^aSum of CB-99, −118, −138, −153, −170 and −180. Provided here for comparisons with data on glaucous gulls in Verreault et al. (2010). ^bSum of o,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDE, o,p′-DDD, p,p′-DDD, o,p′-DDT and p,p′-DDT. ^cND - not detected. ^d n=5 for ΣPCT, oxychlordane and lipid%. ^etr - trace (0.003 μg g⁻¹ lipid≤tr<0.01 μg g⁻¹ lipid). ^fM - missing data.

Fig. 2  Principal component analysis of relativized (see the Supplementary file for details) contaminant concentrations in birds. Vector numbers refer to individual polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners (see Supplementary Table S3). Axis 1 explains 76% and Axis 2 20% of the total variation. Vector numbers refer to individual PCB congeners; the numeral refers to the number of chlorines in the molecule, see Supplementary Table S3b for full explanation. Samples from different locations are presented by convex hulls. There were only two samples of glaucous gull from northern/eastern Svalbard and these are represented by their coordinate points only. Identities of individual samples are given in Supplementary Table S4.

Table 2 Summary of organochlorine concentrations (µg g⁻¹ lipid) in Arctic char collected during the Ymer-80 expedition. Concentrations of individual analytes in individual samples are presented in Supplementary Table S5.

		HCB	Σ31PCB	ΣHCH	p,p′-DDE	Lipid%
		Mean	Mean	Mean	Mean	Mean
		Median	Median	Median	Median	Median
		Range	Range	Range	Range	Range
Linnévatn	Smolt (n=3)	0.07	5.2	1.5	0.56	1.2
		0.07	4.2	1.3	0.38	1.0
		0.05–0.10	1.6–9.7	0.64–2.5	0.38–1.0	0.37–2.2
	Resident (n=3)	0.04	0.71	1.9	0.08	1.6
		0.05	0.73	1.9	0.07	1.5
		0.02–0.05	0.47–0.94	1.4–2.5	0.04–0.11	0.99–2.4
	All (n=6)	0.06	2.9	1.7	0.32	1.4
		0.05	1.27	1.6	0.21	1.3
		0.02–0.10	0.47–9.7	0.24–4.4	0.04–1.0	0.37–2.4
Diesetvatn	Anadromous (n=2)	0.09	0.31	3.8	0.07	3.7
		—	—	—	—	—
		0.08–0.09	0.27–0.34	3.2–4.5	0.14–0.15	3.0–4.3
Jensenvatn	Resident (n=6)	0.14	6.7	6.1	1.2	5.1
		0.13	7.0	5.3	1.2	4.4
		0.11–0.19	2.1–10	2.9–13	0.20–2.3	2.0–12
Annavatn	Resident (n=5)	0.19	7.5	2.7	1.7	2.3
		0.19	7.4	2.7	1.5	2.4
		0.13–0.22	4.0–11	2.1–3.4	0.64–2.9	1.7–3.0
Wibjørnvatn	Resident (n=7)	0.17	1.8	3.8	0.38	3.6
		0.17	1.5	4.0	0.30	3.8
		0.14–0.20	1.0–3.3	1.8–6.2	0.19–0.84	1.6–6.0
Arkvatn	Smolt? (n=5)	0.20	1.3	2.9	2.6	2.5
		0.20	1.2	3.2	2.5	2.8
		0.16–0.22	0.85–1.9	2.0–3.6	1.1–4.1	1.7–3.2
	Resident? (n=3)	0.18	0.59	4.0	0.43	3.6
		0.19	0.61	3.6	0.44	3.2
		0.15–0.20	0.54–0.61	3.5–5.0	0.19–0.66	3.1–4.6
	All (n=8)	0.19	1.0	3.3	1.8	2.9
		0.20	0.93	3.3	1.5	2.9
		0.15–0.22	0.54–1.9	2.0–5.0	0.19–4.1	1.6–4.6
Girlsta Loch	Resident (n=5)	0.09	4.7	1.1	1.4	0.88
		0.09	3.4	1.0	0.77	0.82
		0.08–0.09	2.1–9.6	1.0–1.2	0.37–3.5	0.78–1.0

Fig. 3  Principal component analysis of relativized (see Supplementary file for details) contaminant concentrations in Arctic char with respect to lake. Axis 1 explains 50% and Axis 2 explains 22% of the total variation. Vector numbers refer to individual polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners; the numeral refers to the number of chlorines in the molecule, (see Supplementary Table S3b for full explanation). The samples from different lakes are presented as convex hulls. Lake Diesetvatn, with only two samples, is represented by the sample coordinates only. Identities of individual samples are given in Supplementary Table S5.