2. ENVIRONMENTAL ChEMISTRy & TEChNOLOGy 2.1. Lectures
2. ENVIRONMENTAL ChEMISTRy & TEChNOLOGy 2.1. Lectures
2. ENVIRONMENTAL ChEMISTRy & TEChNOLOGy 2.1. Lectures
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Chem. Listy, 102, s265–s1311 (2008) Environmental Chemistry & Technology<br />
L09 TISSuE-SPECIFIC DISTRIbuTION AND<br />
ACCuMuLATION OF ORGANOChLORINE<br />
POLLuTANTS IN SELECTED RAPTOR<br />
SPECIES FROM ThE CZECh REPubLIC<br />
RADIM LánA a , MILADA VáVROVá a,b , VLADIMíR<br />
VEČEřEK b and STAnISLAV KRáČMAR c<br />
a ICTEP, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology,<br />
Purkyňova 118, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic,<br />
b University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Science Brno,<br />
Palackého 1–3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic,<br />
c Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Brno,<br />
Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic,<br />
lana@fch.vutbr.cz<br />
Introduction<br />
Organochlorine compounds such as polychlorinated<br />
biphenyls (PCBs) or organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are<br />
known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Despite the<br />
ban on production or restrictions on use many years ago the<br />
POPs still continue to be found in various samples from the<br />
environment and accumulate through the food chains. For<br />
their top position within the food chain and the sensitivity<br />
to environmental changes birds of prey are very suitable bioaccumulation<br />
markers. The amount of pollutants accumulating<br />
in the raptors’ tissues is related not only to their diet and<br />
corresponding trophic position, but also to the differences in<br />
accumulation among habitats and ecosystems (aquatic vs.<br />
terrestrial) 1 . Moreover, sensitivity also varies greatly between<br />
compound and species 2 .<br />
However, it is difficult to use birds for the assessment<br />
of pollutant transfers within the food web, except for those<br />
species partly associated with the aquatic habitats where the<br />
transfer can be documented in some measure. For instance<br />
the cormorant or heron are fish feeders and top predators in<br />
aquatic ecosystems, have relatively high levels of POPs in the<br />
adipose tissue, and hence are suitable bioindication species 3 .<br />
Because practical and ethical reasons, low numbers and<br />
often legal protection inhibit the sacrifice of free-living animals,<br />
methods for non-destructive biomonitoring have been<br />
developed. Whereas many studies have previously focused<br />
on the use of eggs or hair, feathers, on the other hand, have an<br />
advantage that they can be collected irrespective of season,<br />
age or sex 4 . Another simple approach consists in the use of<br />
specimens found dead.<br />
In the Czech Republic, the levels of PCBs in unhatched<br />
eggs from raptors were monitored. no intra- or interspecies<br />
differences were found and the findings corresponded to<br />
those from Germany, Canda or the USA, where the CB 153<br />
was the most abundant congener 5 .<br />
This study deals with the levels of organochlorine pollutants<br />
in various tissues of raptor species from the Czech<br />
Republic and compares the results with those from foreign<br />
surveys.<br />
s317<br />
Experimental<br />
The sampling area as well as the raptor and fish species<br />
and their detailed description have already been published 6 .<br />
Selected tissue samples of investigated specimens were<br />
homogenized and dessicated by activated anhydrous sodium<br />
sulphate. Two different extraction techniques were employed<br />
for the isolation of lipids from the tissues. The samples of<br />
muscles, kidneys and liver were extracted by petrolether<br />
(SupraSolv, Merck) by means of accelerated solvent extraction<br />
(140 °C, 12 MPa, 3 × 5 min static extraction + n 2 purge).<br />
The samples of brain, skin, feathers and intestinal content<br />
were extracted by petrolether:acetone (1 : 1, v/v) for 6 h in<br />
a Soxtec apparatus. The removal of lipids from raw extracts<br />
was carried out on an adsorption column packed with Florisil<br />
(5 g; 60/100 mesh, Sigma-Aldrich, activated at 600 °C for<br />
6 h). The samples were then eluted with 90 ml of n-hexane:<br />
diethylethere (94 : 6, v/v), evaporated to dryness using a<br />
rotary evaporator, and dissolved in 1 ml of n-hexane.<br />
The quanification of target analytes was carried out<br />
by HP 6890n high resolution gas chromatograph with two<br />
micro-electron capture detectors (63 ni m-ECD) and two<br />
capillary columns (HT-8 and DB-17ms) operated in parallel<br />
(H 2 as the carrier gas). nine-point calibration curves in a<br />
linear range from 0.5 to 1,000 ng ml –1 were used and the limit<br />
of quantification (LOQ) for all analytes was calculated as<br />
<strong>2.</strong>5 ng g –1 of lipids (i.e. about 0.13 ng g –1 d.w. for 4% lipid<br />
content in a tissue).<br />
Results<br />
The levels of organochlorine pollutants found in the<br />
muscle tissue of cormorants from the Záhlinice area (2007)<br />
Fig. 1. Organochlorine pollutants in muscle tissue of common<br />
cormorant from the Záhlinice area (n = 8). Horizontal lines represent<br />
median, rectangles delimit the 1 st and 3 rd quartiles, and<br />
error bars represent the min/max values. Outlying values are<br />
marked as “+” (2007).