Contaminants of emerging concern in an endangered population of common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in the Baltic Sea




Ask, Amalie V.; Jaspers, Veerle L.B.; Zhang, Junjie; Asimakopoulos, Alexandros G.; Frøyland, Sunniva H.; Jolkkonen, Juho; Prian, Wasique Z.; Wilson, Nora M.; Sonne, Christian; Hansen, Martin; Öst, Markus; Koivisto, Sanna; Eeva, Tapio; Vakili, Farshad S.; Arzel, Céline

PublisherElsevier Ltd

2025

Environmental Pollution

Environmental Pollution

125409

365

125409

0269-7491

1873-6424

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.125409

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.125409

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/477053021



Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are ubiquitous in aquatic environments and pose a range of biological effects including endocrine disruption. Yet, knowledge of their occurrence in wildlife including seabirds remains scarce. We investigated the occurrence of selected bisphenols, benzophenones, phthalate metabolites, benzotriazoles, benzothiazoles, parabens, triclosan, and triclocarban in plasma of 18 breeding female common eiders (Somateria mollissima) from an endangered population in the Baltic Sea as most of these CECs have never before been examined in eiders. We sampled blood at the start (T1) and end (T2) of incubation to investigate concentration changes during incubation. As early- and late-breeding eiders tend to differ in how they finance reproduction (local vs stored nutrient reserves), we compared early and late breeders to assess whether CEC concentrations differed by breeding phenology. Of the 58 targeted CECs, 21 were detected in at least one female, with bisphenol A (BPA) and benzophenone-3 (BzP-3) occurring most frequently (T1: 78% and 61%; T2: 61% and 67%, respectively), while mono(2-ethyl-1-hexyl) phthalate (mEHP), BPA, and monoethyl phthalate (mEP) were detected in the highest concentrations (median concentrations 27.1, 12.7, and 11.2 ng/g wet weight, respectively, at T1). No CEC concentrations differed between early and late incubation. Late breeders had significantly higher concentrations of BzP-3, monomethyl phthalate (mMP), and mEP during early incubation (4.55 vs 1.24 ng/g ww, 7.05 vs 3.52, and 11.2 vs < limit of detection (LOD), respectively) and significantly higher concentrations of mMP and mEP during late incubation (6.16 vs


Markus Öst's participation in this study was supported by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland (grant nos. 177733 and 188437). Finally, we thank the Research Council of Finland (grant nos. 336261 and 333400) and Turku University Foundation for funding the research.


Last updated on 2025-27-01 at 18:50