| Summary: | Several studies have demonstrated the presence of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Antarctic wildlife and in some cases some adverse effects due to POP exposure have been described1. In spite of the efforts made during the last two decades to address the presence of POPs in Antarctic predators, data arescarce, especially in the case of emerging POPs.Moststudies are limited toa few sampling pointsandspeciesand mostly to legacy POPs2.Accordingly, the influence of key factors driving the exposure to POPs and related compoundsin Antarctic predators, i.e. trophic relationships and geographic distribution or movements, remains unclear1,2. In this study we aimed toevaluate the relative influence of spatialdistributionand trophic ecologyof Antarctic wildlife in their exposure to POPs and related compounds. For that, 45 chemicals were analyzed in plasmaof 206 seabirds belonging to 8species. Organochlorinated pesticides (6 DDTs and HCB), chlorinated and brominated flame retardants (2 DPs and 15 PBDEs, respectively), polychlorinated biphenyls (7 indicator PCBs) and perfluoralkylated substances (15 PFASs: Five perfluoroalkanesulfonates (PFSAs, C4-12), ten perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs, C4-13) and perfluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA)were studied. Moreover, stable isotope ratios of C and N (δ13Cand δ15N) were also determined in plasma and used to infer the potentiallatitude offoraging areas and trophic position, respectively2.
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