Persistent Organic Pollutants in the East Antarctic Atmosphere: Inter-Annual Observations from 2010 to 2015 Using High-Flow-Through Passive Sampling.

In the first multiyear sampling effort for POPs in the eastern Antarctic atmosphere, 32 PCBs and 38 organochlorine pesticides were targeted in air collected with a high-flow-through passive sampler. Agricultural chemicals were found to dominate atmospheric profiles, in particular HCB and endosulfan-I, with average concentrations of 12 600 and 550 fg/m3, respectively. HCB showed higher concentrations in the austral summer, indicative of local, temperature-dependent volatilisation, while endosulfan-I appeared to show fresh, late-austral-summer input followed by temporally decreasing levels throughout the year. The current-use herbicide, trifluralin, and the legacy pesticides mirex and toxaphene, were detected in Antarctic air for the first time. Trifluralin was observed at low but increasing levels over the five-year period. Its detection in the Antarctic atmosphere provides evidence of its persistence and long-range environmental transport capability. While a time frame of five years exceeds the duration of most Antarctic air monitoring efforts, it is projected that continuous monitoring at the decadal scale is required to detect an annual 10% change in atmospheric concentrations of key analytes. This finding emphasizes the importance of continuous, long-term monitoring efforts in polar regions, that serve a special role as sentinel environments of hemispheric chemical usage trends.

Monitoring exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in an Australian population using pooled urine samples.

Integrated exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be assessed through monitoring of urinary mono-hydroxylated PAHs (OH-PAHs). The aim of this study was to provide the first assessment of exposure to PAHs in a large sample of the population in Queensland, Australia including exposure to infant (0-4years). De-identified urine specimens, obtained from a pathology laboratory, were stratified by age and sex, and pooled (n=24 pools of 100) and OH-PAHs were measured by gas chromatography-isotope dilution-tandem mass spectrometry. Geometric mean (GM) concentrations ranged from 30ng/L (4-hydroxyphenanthrene) to 9221ng/L (1-naphthol). GM of 1-hydroxypyrene, the most commonly used PAH exposure biomarker, was 142ng/L. The concentrations of OH-PAHs found in this study are consistent with those in developed countries and lower than those in developing countries. We observed no association between sex and OH-PAH concentrations. However, we observed lower urinary concentrations of all OH-PAHs in samples from infants (0-4years), children (5-14years) and the elderly (>60year old) compared with samples from other age groups (15-29, 30-44 and 45-59years) which may be attributed to age-dependent behaviour-specific exposure sources.

Spatial distribution of selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Australia's atmosphere.

A nation-wide passive air sampling campaign recorded concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in Australia's atmosphere in 2012. XAD-based passive air samplers were deployed for one year at 15 sampling sites located in remote/background, agricultural and semi-urban and urban areas across the continent. Concentrations of 47 polychlorinated biphenyls ranged from 0.73 to 72 pg m(-3) (median of 8.9 pg m(-3)) and were consistently higher at urban sites. The toxic equivalent concentration for the sum of 12 dioxin-like PCBs was low, ranging from below detection limits to 0.24 fg m(-3) (median of 0.0086 fg m(-3)). Overall, the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls in Australia were among the lowest reported globally to date. Among the organochlorine pesticides, hexachlorobenzene had the highest (median of 41 pg m(-3)) and most uniform concentration (with a ratio between highest and lowest value ∼5). Bushfires may be responsible for atmospheric hexachlorobenzene levels in Australia that exceeded Southern Hemispheric baseline levels by a factor of ∼4. Organochlorine pesticide concentrations generally increased from remote/background and agricultural sites to urban sites, except for high concentrations of α-endosulfan and DDTs at specific agricultural sites. Concentrations of heptachlor (0.47-210 pg m(-3)), dieldrin (ND-160 pg m(-3)) and trans- and cis-chlordanes (0.83-180 pg m(-3), sum of) in Australian air were among the highest reported globally to date, whereas those of DDT and its metabolites (ND-160 pg m(-3), sum of), α-, ß-, γ- and δ-hexachlorocyclohexane (ND-6.7 pg m(-3), sum of) and α-endosulfan (ND-27 pg m(-3)) were among the lowest.

The effects of endosulfan and variable water temperature on survivorship and subsequent vulnerability to predation in Litoria citropa tadpoles.

The effects of short-term exposure of stage 25 Litoria citropa tadpoles to sublethal concentrations of endosulfan in combination with either a stable or a variable temperature cycle (20+/-2 vs. 21+/-7.5 degrees C) were investigated. Both exposure to 0.8 microg/l endosulfan and the wider temperature range over 96 h had significant adverse effects on survivorship. In addition, variable water temperatures at the time of endosulfan exposure increased tadpoles' vulnerability to predation by odonates 24 days later, but only if they had also been exposed to endosulfan. This effect occurred despite maintenance of all tadpoles at 19+/-1 degrees C during the intervening 24 days. Correlates of fitness such as this represent a move towards more biologically relevant experimental endpoints. This is an important step if we are to gain an understanding of how exposure to agricultural chemicals may affect frog populations in the natural environment. The results indicate that a short, pulsed exposure to a sublethal concentration of endosulfan and extremes in temperature may then have long-term impacts on fitness.