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. 2024 Oct;87(3):287-310.
doi: 10.1007/s00244-024-01088-4. Epub 2024 Sep 19.

Dioxins, PFOS, and 20 other Persistent Organic Pollutants in Eggs of Nine Wild Bird Species from the Vaal River, South Africa

Velesia Lesch  1 , Rialet Pieters  2 , Hindrik Bouwman  2
Affiliations

Dioxins, PFOS, and 20 other Persistent Organic Pollutants in Eggs of Nine Wild Bird Species from the Vaal River, South Africa

Velesia Lesch et al. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

The Vaal River catchment drains the largest and most populated industrial and mining region in Southern Africa. Heron, ibis, cormorant, egrets, and darter eggs, representing three habitats and four feeding guilds, were collected at four locations in 2009/10 to identify hotspots and hazards associated with persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The POPs included 21 organochlorine pesticides, five polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) classes, 18 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs including six non-dioxin-like PCBs; NDL-PCB), and 12 dioxin-like PCBs (DL-PCBs), 17 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-p-furans (PCDD/Fs), and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). Aquatic predators had higher PFOS and PCDD/F concentrations, while PCBs dominated in terrestrial eggs. Organochlorine pesticides, PBDEs, and PCBs were strongly associated with eggs from the industrial regions, while PCDD/F concentrations were evenly distributed. PCDD/F and PCB toxic equivalency quotient concentrations were low with no adverse effects expected. PFOS peaked at Bloemhof Dam with a maximum of 2300 ng/g wm in an African Darter egg, indicating an unexpected PFOS hotspot, the source of which is unknown. Despite order of differences in compound class concentrations, there was no association with egg size. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only study that analysed all 2010 POPs in bird eggs on a large geographic scale. This study highlighted the importance of multi-species studies sampling from multiple locations to assess the risk that POPs pose to avian populations as hotspots and species at risk may be missed by studies looking at one or few species.

Keywords: Ardeidae; DDT; Heron; PBDE; PCB; PCDD/F; Pesticide.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map showing the wild bird egg sampling locations
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Violin plots (frequency distributions) of log-transformed concentrations of selected compounds quantified in bird eggs regardless of sampling location. Horizontal lines are medians and 25 and 75% quartiles. Species are arranged according to increasing reported mean egg mass. RC = Reed Cormorant, CE = Cattle Egret, LE = Little Egret, GI = Glossy Ibis, AD = African Darter, BHH = Black Headed Heron, GH = Grey Heron, GWE = Great White Egret, and ASI = African Sacred Ibis
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Mean concentrations and standard deviations of selected compounds quantified at each sampling location regardless of species. Barb = Barbers Pan, Bloem = Bloemhof Dam, Eldo = Eldorado Park, and Potch = Potchefstroom
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Violin plots (frequency distributions) of log-transformed concentrations of selected compounds quantified in bird eggs according to habitat guilds. Horizontal lines are medians and 25 and 75% quartiles. Habitat guilds are expressed as aquatic, wetland, and terrestrial. Aqua = aquatic, Wet = wetland, and Terr = terrestrial. ANOVA p-values of guilds that were found to be statistically significant different are indicated with brackets. Two-way unpaired t-test was performed for HCB
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Violin plots (frequency distributions) of concentrations of selected compounds quantified in bird eggs according to feeding guilds. Horizontal lines are medians and 25 and 75% quartiles. Feeding guilds are expressed as LAP = large aquatic predators, S = scavengers, SAP = small aquatic predators, and TI = terrestrial insectivore. ANOVA p-values of guilds that were found to be statistically significant different are indicated with brackets. Two-way unpaired t-test was performed for HCB
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
TEQ values in bird eggs. Data are expressed as mean with range. A) PCDD/F TEQ values according to sampling location. B) PCB TEQ values according to sampling location. Sampling locations are expressed as Barb = Barbers Pan, Bloem = Bloemhof Dam, Eldo = Eldorado Park and Potch = Potchefstroom. C) PCDD/F TEQ values according to species. D) PCB TEQ values according to species. Species are arranged according to increasing reported average egg mass. Species are expressed as RC = Reed Cormorant, CE = Cattle Egret, LE = Little Egret, GI = Glossy Ibis, AD = African Darter, BHH = Black Headed Heron, GH = Grey Heron, GWE = Great White Egret, and ASI = African Sacred Ibis. E) PCDD/F TEQ values according to habitat guilds. F) PCB TEQ according to habitat guilds. Habitat guilds as expressed as Aqua = aquatic, Wet = wetland, and Terr = terrestrial. G) PCDD/F TEQ values according to feeding guilds. H) PCB TEQ according to feeding guilds. Feeding guilds are expressed as LAP = large aquatic predators, S = scavengers, SAP = small aquatic predators, and TI = terrestrial insectivore
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Simple linear regression. Concentrations of compound classes, regardless of species or sample location, regressed against egg mass
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