Uptake of chemicals from legacy waste sites in coastal food webs and effects on higher predators

废弃废物处置场（例如，历史垃圾填埋场、采矿、煤气化和飞灰弃渣场以及“粪便”处置区）可能是遗留污染物（例如，金属、持久性有机化合物、生物杀灭剂）和新兴污染物（例如，药品、个人护理产品、转化产品以及微型和纳米聚合物）进入沿海环境的重要来源。这些污染物在水和沉积物隔室中的出现可导致有毒物质混合物进入水生食物链。接触遗留废物场地释放的化学品组合可能会对海鸟等具有高度养护关切的高级食肉动物造成人口影响，从而影响种群的复原力。因此，需要一个明确的空间暴露评估框架，确定废弃废物场作为沿海食物链中多种污染物的暴露和风险来源的重要性，以支持对靠近受保护生境和脆弱野生动物种群的遗留废物场的管理决定。在这个项目中，我们将开发和测试一个食物网暴露和风险评估模型框架，用于遗留废物场地产生的污染物。我们将把对废物处理做法的历史分析与环境监测、先进的分析化学和食物链及危害评估结合起来，以确定废物场地产生的化学污染物通过沿海海洋食物链的转移以及这些暴露对海鸟种群的影响。我们的方法来估计暴露和影响的潜力将直接监测的人口和生理状态的更高的捕食鸟类，欧洲沙格。欧洲沙格犬是这些研究的绝佳选择，因为它们的沿海觅食习惯可能会导致从陆地遗产地迁移到海洋中的污染物的高暴露。此外，它们排泄某些类型的有机污染物的能力可能是有限的，过去的工作表明，该物种的持久性有机污染物负荷量是任何海鸟物种中最高的。我们将开发、参数化和测试福斯湾殖民地的暴露和风险模型，该地区有高密度的遗留废物场，也是拟议的海鸟特别保护区。我们将在潜在高暴露（靠近多个废物场地-西部的Inchkeith）和中度暴露（近距离场地较少-东部的Isle of May）的殖民地监测个体性交。在殖民地内，我们将研究不同的鸟类群体，它们表现出截然不同的迁徙习惯。有些全年都留在福斯湾，而另一些则在繁殖季节之外前往北阿伯丁郡海岸（一个几乎没有遗留废物场地的地区，因此潜在的低暴露）。通过测量来自不同殖民地和具有不同迁移模式的个体的人口统计学和生理学，我们可以比较我们的建模框架在不同暴露情景下预测暴露和潜在风险的能力。在整个项目中，我们将与政策、监管、行业和非政府组织部门的主要利益相关者合作，探索如何将我们的模型与现有的监管制度相结合，以减轻沿海废物场地对野生动物种群的任何已确定的不利影响。我们的方法将转移到英国及其他沿海地区。

Disused waste disposal sites (e.g. historic landfills, mining, coal gasification and fly ash spoil sites and 'night soil' disposal areas) may be important sources of legacy (e.g. metals, persistent organic compounds, biocides) and emerging (e.g. pharmaceuticals, personal care products, transformation products and micro and nano-polymers) pollutants into coastal environments. The occurrence of these pollutants in water and sediment compartments can result in the entry of a mixture of toxicants into aquatic food chains. Exposure to combinations of chemicals released from legacy waste sites could lead to demographic impacts on higher predators of high conservation concern, such as seabirds, that could affect population resilience. A spatial explicit exposure assessment framework that establishes the importance of disused waste sites as a source of exposure and risk for multiple pollutants through coastal food chains is therefore needed to support management decisions for legacy waste sites close to protected habitats and vulnerable wildlife populations. In this project, we will develop and test a food web exposure and risk assessment modelling framework for legacy waste site-derived pollutants. We will combine historic analyses of waste disposal practices with environmental monitoring, advanced analytical chemistry and food chain and hazard assessments to establish the transfer of waste site derived chemical contaminants through coastal marine food chains and the impacts of these exposures for seabird populations. The potential for our approach to estimate exposure and effects will be assessed by directly monitoring the demography and physiological status of a higher predator bird species, the European shag. European shags are an excellent choice for these studies because their coastal feeding habits may lead to high exposure to contaminated moving from legacy sites on land into the sea. Further, their ability to excrete some types of organic contaminants is potentially limited, as indicated by past work that has shown this species to have to some of the highest loading of any seabird species for persistent organic pollutants. We will develop, parameterise and test our exposure and risk models for colonies in the Firth of Forth, an area with a high density of legacy waste sites that is also a proposed Special Protection Area for seabirds. We will monitor individual shags at colonies with potentially high exposure (close proximity to multiple waste sites - Inchkeith to the West) and moderate exposure (fewer proximal sites - Isle of May to the East). Within colonies, we will study separate groups of birds displaying contrasting migratory habits. Some remain in the Firth of Forth all year round, while others head to the North Aberdeenshire coast outside of the breeding season (an area with few legacy waste sites, and hence potentially low exposure). By measuring the demography and physiology of individuals from different colonies and with different migratory patterns, we can compare how well our modelling framework predicts exposure and potential risk under different exposure scenarios. Throughout the project, we will work with key stakeholders from the policy, regulatory, industry and NGO sectors to explore how to use our models alongside existing regulatory regimes to mitigate any identified adverse impacts on coastal waste sites on wildlife populations. Our approach will be transferable to other coastal regions in the UK and beyond.