Are pine needles bioindicators of air pollution? Comparison of organochlorine compound levels in pine needles and ambient air.

Levels of six PCB congeners and seven organochlorine pesticides were investigated and compared in ambient air and in pine needle samples. The applied methods are suitable for the analysis of PCBs and organochlorine pesticides in environmental samples and for their detection in recent intakes. DDE, HCB, lindane, PCB-28, PCB-52, PCB-101, PCB-138 and PCB-153 were found in all pine needle and air samples. The highest median values were found for PCB-28, PCB-101 and gamma-HCH, and the lowest for PCB-180 and DDD. The median value of alpha-HCH/ gamma-HCH ratios was 0.2 in both matrices. DDE/DDT ratios were close to or below 1 in some pine needle and ambient air samples. The results showed a correspondence between air and pine needle pollution; the same compounds were present in the highest or in the lowest levels in both types of matrices. These results suggest that pine needles are passive biomonitors of air pollution.

Seasonal variations of polychlorinated biphenyls in ambient air in Zagreb, Croatia.

Levels of polychlorinated byphenils (PCBs) were monitored continuously in Zagreb between June 1999 and February 2000 and analysed qualitatively and quantitatively using high resolution gas chromatography (HRGC). Total PCBs were determined with respect to Aroclor 1260, which was used as the standard reference. The concentrations of PCBs ranged from 1.6 to 136 pg/m3 and were higher in warmer seasons (temperatures above 10 degrees C; 5.1-136 pg/m3) than in colder seasons (temperatures from -10 degrees C to about 10 degrees C; PCB range: 1.6-23.5 pg/m3). The increase in PCBs concentration with temperature followed an exponential curve.

Accumulation of organochlorine contaminants in loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, from the eastern Adriatic Sea.

We analyzed 15 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and five organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in fat tissue of 27 loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from eastern Adriatic Sea with the curved carapace length ranging from 25.0 to 84.5 cm. The PCB profile was dominated by hexa- and hepta-chlorinated congeners, with PCB-153 (median: 114.9 ng g⁻¹ wet mass), PCB-138 (80.0 ng g⁻¹ w.m.), and PCB-180 (26.7 ng g⁻¹ w.m.) detected with the highest levels. Toxic mono-ortho congeners PCB-118, PCB-105 and PCB-180 with dioxin-like toxicity were found in > 70% samples. 4,4'-DDE (81.0 ng g⁻¹ w.m.) prevailed the OCP signature, accounting for 80% of the total DDTs. A significant increasing trend in accumulation with size was found for PCB-52 (r(s) = 0.512, p < 0.01) and PCB-114 (r(s) = 0.421, p < 0.05). Comparison of our results with organochlorine contaminant (OC) pattern in some prey taxa suggest that contamination occurs primarily through the food web, with biomagnification factors of 0.14-6.99 which were positively correlated with the octanol-water partition coefficient (logK(ow); p < 0.05). This study, based upon a fairly large sample size collected mostly from incidentally captured animals over a short time period (June 2001-November 2002), present a temporal snapshot of OC contamination in wild, free-ranging loggerheads from Adriatic feeding grounds and provide a baseline for monitoring the regional OC trends in this endangered species.