Nara Oliveira-Ferreira, Bárbara Moura Reis Manhães, Elitieri Santos-Neto, Rafael Ramos Carvalho, Haydée Andrade Cunha, Alexandre Freitas Azevedo, Tatiana Lemos Bisi, José Lailson-Brito
The assessment of chemical pollution in free-ranging living mammals is viable using remote biopsies and portrays a comprehensive scenario of environmental health. The Southwestern Atlantic Ocean holds incredible biodiversity, but it is under the constant and invisible threat of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) of anthropogenic origin, such as pesticides, brominated flame retardants, and industrial-use compounds (e.g.., PCBs). Thus, this study aimed to assess the bioaccumulation of POPs (PCBs, DDTs, HCB, mirex and PBDEs) and natural organobromine compounds (MeO-BDEs) using gas-chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry in biopsy samples of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis, n = 20) that inhabit and forage both inside and in adjacent areas to degraded (Guanabara Bay) and conserved (Ilha Grande Bay) coastal bays in the Southeastern Brazil...
March 22, 2024: Science of the Total Environment