Contamination of an arctic terrestrial food web with marine-derived persistent organic pollutants transported by breeding seabirds

At Cape Vera, Devon Island (Nunavut, Canada), a colony of northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) concentrates and releases contaminants through their guano to the environment We determined whether persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from seabirds were transferred to coastal food webs Snow buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis)were the most contaminated species, with Sigma PCB and Sigma DDT (mean 168, 106 ng/g ww) concentrations surpassing environmental guidelines for protecting wildlife. When examined collectively, PCB congeners and DDT in jewel lichen (Xanthoria elegans)were lower in samples taken farther from the seabird colony, and increased with increasing delta(15)N values. However, only concentrations of p'p-DDE Sigma DDT and PCB-95 were significantly correlated inversely with distance from the seabird cliffs Linkages between marine-derived POPs and their concentrations in terrestrial mammals were less clear Our study provides novel contaminant data for these species and supports biovector transport as a source of organic contaminants to certain components of the terrestrial food web Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved