Influences of climate change on long-term time series of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Arctic and Antarctic biota

Abstract

Time series of contaminants in the Arctic are an important instrument to detect emerging issues and to monitor the effectiveness of chemicals regulation, based on the assumption of a direct...

Influence of climate change on persistent organic pollutants and chemicals of emerging concern in the Arctic: state of knowledge and recommendations for future research

“…Associations between climate change and temporal trends of POPs in Arctic biota (Vorkamp et al 33 ). Positive associations have been found between annual mean concentrations of many POPs in biota and climate oscillation indices over time, sometimes with time lags, suggesting that changes in air mass transport from North America and Europe toward the Arctic can inuence POP levels in biota.…”

“…What are the key climate change-driven physical and/or ecological processes inuencing POPs in Arctic wildlife and how will climate change inuence levels of POPs in Arctic biota and food webs? The reviews by Borgå et al 32 and Vorkamp et al 33 demonstrate that there are a vast diversity of processes through which climate change may affect contaminant exposure in Arctic ecosystems. The direction and extent of changes in POP concentrations in biota are not consistent but vary between species, ecosystems and locations.…”

“…Can we link changes in temporal trends of POPs with climate parameters and/or food web changes? As Hung et al 31 and Vorkamp et al 33 have demonstrated, many POP time trends established for Arctic air and biota have now achieved the statistical power needed to evaluate relationships with climate parameters. 5 However, only a few POP time series from the Arctic have been investigated for correlations with climate parameters to date.…”

“…Some of these time series do show associations between changes in POP concentrations and climate parameters (e.g. climate oscillation indices, sea ice extent, precipitation) over time and provide important indications of covariates to consider in the interpretation of POP time trends, as further detailed in Hung et al 31 and Vorkamp et al 33 Recommendation: existing time trend monitoring data should be used to explore associations between climate parameters and POP concentrations in the Arctic to a greater extent. POP time series of sufficient length are available from most Arctic countries, in many cases covering many compounds in air and/or multiple species of biota.…”

“…Borgå et al 32 examine the climate-induced changes in ecosystem structure and function that may impact POP exposure, as observed in food webs and migratory species. Vorkamp et al 33 review the growing literature on climate-related effects on temporal trends of POPs in Arctic biota, based on time-series datasets on POPs in Arctic biota, with some additional information from Antarctica. 5,34 Also included in this themed issue are reviews of relevant research findings from Antarctica and Tibet, where similar questions on the effects of climate change on POPs in cold climates are being studied.…”