Abstract
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are still globally distributed and can exert different effects on ecosystems. Little is known about the occurrence of these contaminants in terrestrial birds from South America. In this study, POPs were assessed for the first time in a flightless herbivorous species from the Pampas grasslands, the Greater rhea (Rhea americana). Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were determined in 18 samples of feathers from free-ranging and captive individuals inhabiting four sites with different land uses in central Argentina. Among the 16 POPs tested in those feathers, 6 PCBs (28, 52, 101, 138, 153, and 180) and 8 OCPs (α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD, o,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDT, and HCB) were quantified. No PBDEs were detected. The total concentration of POPs was higher in populations living in an intensive crop production area (agriculture 159 ng g −1 and farm: 97.53 ng g−1) compared with the population in an urban area (zoo 45.86 ng g−1) and an agroecosystem with extensive rearing of livestock (cattle rearing 36.77 ng g−1). PCBs were the most abundant pollutants in all the populations studied. Lower chlorinated CB 52 and CB 101 were the principal PCB congeners detected, representing at least 70% of the total quantified. All populations studied showed a DDE + DDD/DDT ratio > 1, indicating a historical application of this insecticide. This study provides a new contribution to the scarce data on POP concentrations in South American bird species. Further investigations are needed to evaluate their potential effects on the health of individuals and populations.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the authorities of the Zoo of Córdoba city (Argentina), the Ghersi Family, Osvaldo Serra, and Miguel Foresto for allowing us to take the feather samples in their properties, and Bernardo Sonzini and Facundo Fernández for collecting and providing feather samples from the Salinas de Ambargasta. To G. Bazzano, for her collaboration in field sampling and C. Adam for POPs quantification. Gabriel Crespi from the Cooperativa de Electricidad, Obras y Servicios Públicos Ltda. de Coronel Moldes, provided historical information about the removal of electrical transformers in the study area. Special thanks to M. Adam and C. de Aranzamendi for their help in manuscript preparation.
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This work was supported by a grant for Proyectos de Unidades Ejecutoras from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) to the Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal, grants to JLN from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica de Argentina (Fondo para la investigación Científica y Tecnológica), and grants from the Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología of Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.
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AL, JLN, and MBM conceived and designed the study, while AL and EG performed the material preparation, data collection, and analysis. EG did the laboratory supervision. A Lèche wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors commented on and corrected previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Lèche, A., Gismondi, E., Martella, M.B. et al. First assessment of persistent organic pollutants in the Greater rhea (Rhea americana), a near-threatened flightless herbivorous bird of the Pampas grasslands. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 27681–27693 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12614-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12614-5