Influence of land use on chlorpyrifos and persistent organic pollutant levels in honey bees, bee bread and honey: Beehive exposure assessment.

This work reports the spatial and temporal variations on the dynamics of OCPs, PCBs, PBDEs and chlorpyrifos in honey bee, bee bread and honey samples, as well as soil and flowers from the surrounding areas, considering, different land uses. Honey bee samples showed the highest pollutant levels, with a predominance of the industrial contaminants over pesticides. Chlorpyrifos showed the highest concentration during the application period in almost all samples from the soybean field (S2), in concordance with its current use. By other hand, the recalcitrant compounds such as, DDTs, BDE #47 and also light PCBs exhibited the highest levels in beehive samples from the field adjacent to urban disposal waste (S3). In both soils and flower samples a prevalence of obsolete compounds over chlorpyrifos was observed, and the 6-CB predominated among the homologous groups of PCBs These results highlights the importance of soils as sink of these persistent contaminants, which became available depending on environmental conditions. Results revealed that the land uses and seasonal variations have directly impacted on the levels of agrochemicals, PCBs and PBDEs found in the beehive matrixes. This survey provides novel evidence about the current situation of pollution on honey bee colonies under temperate climates and contributes to the knowledge of this poor studied topic in Argentina.

PBDEs, PCBs and organochlorine pesticides distribution in edible fish from Negro River basin, Argentinean Patagonia.

DDTs, endosulfans, HCHs, chlordanes, PCBs and PBDEs levels were determined in different tissues of patagonian silverside (Odontesthes hatcheri) from the Upper (UV), Middle (MV) and Lower (LV) valleys of the Negro River, Argentina. Results showed a direct relation between pollutant levels in fish and land uses along the basin. All tissues showed decreasing levels from headwaters (UV) to downstream (LV). A significant predominance of organochlorine pesticides (306-3,449 ng g(-1) lipid) followed by ΣPCBs (65-3,102 ng g(-1) lipid) and ΣPBDEs (22-870 ng g(-1) lipid) was observed in all tissues and valleys, suggesting agriculture as the main source of pollutants in this basin. Pesticides were dominated by DDTs (90% pp'-DDE) followed by endosulfan (α->ß->sulfate), γ-HCH and γ-chlordane showing the prevalence of legacy compounds. Endosulfan levels point out the current use of technical endosulfan in the surrounding areas. The highest PCBs and PBDEs concentrations observed in fish from UV were associated to hydroelectric power plants and industries established upstream. PCB fingerprint presented a prevailing contribution of hexa-CBs (66 ± 7%) and penta-CBs (27 ± 9%), with a similar composition to Aroclor 1254-1260. The predominance of BDE-47 (69 ± 17%) among PBDEs, followed by BDE-100 and BDE-99, suggests possible debromination processes. These results were similar to worldwide trends found in fishes and environmental compartments. PCBs levels in silverside muscles along the Negro River exceeded the maximum limits for safe consumption, suggesting a possible human health risk related to silverside ingest. Therefore, a continued long-term monitoring of organic contaminants in fishes is needed in order to assess the potential risk for human health.