WA9 Semi-Volatile Pollutants in Polar and Alpine Ecosystems
D137-140
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Wednesday
() Why do semi-circumpolar organochlorine distribution in arctic marine fauna vary between species?
Borga, K1, Fisk, A2, Gabrielsen, G1, Skaare, J3, 4, Norstrom, R5, 1 Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromso, Norway2 University of Georgia, School of Forest Resources, Athens, Georgia, USA3 Norwegian Veterinary Institute, Oslo, Norway4 Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway5 Chemistry Department, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
ABSTRACT- Higher trophic level arctic marine predators, such as ringed seal, Arctic fox, glaucous gull and polar bear, show higher levels of several old (e.g. PCB, DDT) and new (PBDE) organic contaminants (OCs) in the Barents Sea compared to the Canadian Arctic. Reasons for the geographic difference in OC concentrations are still not clear; however, differences in long range transport pathway (LRTP) sources, food web structure and length, and influence of contaminated ice fauna have been suggested as explanations. Recently, marine food web OC accumulation studies were carried out in the Northwater Polynya of the Canadian Arctic and the Barents Sea of the European Arctic. Based on the comparison of OCs between these studies, levels in lower trophic level organisms did not reflect the geographic variation found in Arctic top predators. This would suggest that differences in OC concentrations in top predators in these regions are not due to differences in LRTP sources. However, there was considerable variation around the OC concentration means. Thus, the puzzle of geographic variation in OC levels in top predators in the Arctic remains unanswered. The objective of the present work was to reanalyse Canadian and Norwegian food web OC data sets jointly to investigate the discrepancy between circumpolar distributions of OCs among different arctic marine fauna.
Key words: distribution, Arctic, transport, zooplankton