A screening of select toxic and essential elements and persistent organic pollutants in the fur of Svalbard reindeer

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 245; p. 125458
• Main Authors: Pacyna-Kuchta, Aneta Dorota, Wietrzyk-Pełka, Paulina, Węgrzyn, Michał Hubert, Frankowski, Marcin, Polkowska, Żaneta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2020
• Subjects: Animal Fur - chemistry; Animals; Arctic region; Arctic Regions; arsenic; cadmium; calcium; cobalt; copper; DDT; DDT (pesticide); detection limit; Ecosystem; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental Pollutants - analysis; fluorenes; fur; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; herbivores; Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - analysis; iron; lead; magnesium; mercury; metabolites; Metal; nickel; Norway; PAHs; PCB28; persistent organic pollutants; Pesticides - analysis; polychlorinated biphenyls; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - analysis; potassium; Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus; reindeer; Reindeer - metabolism; screening; spectrometers; Svalbard; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; terrestrial ecosystems; toxicity; Trace Elements - analysis; Tundra; vegetarian diet; vegetation; zinc; Arctic Regions; Svalbard; Norway; Arctic region; PAHs; PCB28; Metal; Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus; DDT; Tundra
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125458

Reindeers play an important role in the polar ecosystem, being long-lived sole vegetarians feeding on local vegetation. They can be used as a valuable bioindicator, helping us to understand contaminants’ impact on the polar terrestrial ecosystem. Still, scarce data exist from research in which polar herbivores (especially those from the European parts of the Arctic) were a major study subject for trace elements and persistent organic pollutant determination. Here, Svalbard reindeer fur has been used to determine metals, non-metals and metalloids using ICP-MS, and several persistent organic pollutants including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) using gas chromatography coupled to a tandem mass spectrometer (GC-MS/MS). Samples were collected from reindeer populations living in the area near Ny-Ålesund and Longyearbyen. Essential elements like Fe, Mg, Zn, K, Ca, Cu predominated in the trace elements profile. Median values of As, Cd, Co, Li, Ni, Se and V were all below 0.5 μg/g dw. Mercury was below detection limit in all samples, while the Pb median varied from 0.35 to 0.74 μg/g dw. Except acenaphthylene and fluorene, PAHs were detectable only in samples collected in the vicinity of Longyearbyen. Of 15 studied pesticides, only DDT and its metabolites were above the detection limit, and, of PCBs, only PCB28. [Display omitted] •A first indication of Ca, K, Mg, Mn, Se, Sr in Svalbard reindeer fur.•Semi-volatile PAHs detected at low levels.•PCB28 and DDT metabolites found in most samples.