| Summary: | The long-term monitoring of persistent and bio-accumulating chemicals in the Swedish environment is part of the Swedish National Environmental Monitoring Programme. It is based on chemical analyses of tissues and organs from species collected in selected reference areas of the Swedish mainland, lakes and coastal areas (Odsjö & Olsson 1979a,b, Bernes 1985). As part of the terrestrial contaminant monitoring programme, specimens of muscle, liver and kidney of moose (Alces alces) have been collected since 1980 from Grimsö, a reference area in the monitoring programme and a coherent hunting district in the Örebro county (T) in south-central Sweden. In 1996, the monitoring was extended by collection and chemical analysis of organs of moose from six further counties and districts in Sweden. These districts are situated in the Norrbotten county (BD), Jämtland county (Z), Västmanland county (U), Älvsborg county (P), Jönköping county (F) and Kronoberg county (G) (Figure 1). Moose, with a diet dominated by twigs and leaves of trees and shrubs (Cederlund et al. 1980), was chosen in the monitoring programme as a representative of biota in the Swedish forest areas. Since the moose is distributed almost all over the country, it was considered as an ideal material also for studies of spatial distribution of environmental pollution and bioaccumulation, which is the reason for the extended collection of samples in 1996 onwards. This report presents levels and time trends of Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, V and Zn in liver and kidney and Se and Hg in liver and muscle from the period 1996-2004. For Grimsö data from an extended period, 1980-2005 is presented.
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