Understanding exposure of wildlife to persistent pollutants in the UK and Antarctica

只要持久性化学品继续被释放，并被运输到远离其制造和使用的偏远环境，它们就会在环境中积累。即使在监管行动之后，它们的影响也很难逆转，因为浓度需要几十年的时间才能下降。污染被政府间生物多样性和生态系统服务专门委员会确认为生物多样性丧失的五大直接驱动因素，以往的经验发现，持久性有机污染物可能会产生重大影响。捕食性鸟类中的滴滴涕和鲸目动物中的多氯联苯的经验清楚地证明了这一点。因此，污染破坏了领导人自然誓言的雄心，即加强全球对生物多样性的雄心和英国的25年环境计划。英国是该组织的签署国。《领导人誓言》承诺采取有意义的行动，大幅减少环境污染。为了对持久性化学品实现这一点，监管行动需要强有力的证据基础，以确定令人担忧的化学品，并了解环境暴露及其对野生动物构成的风险。该项目将调查整个食物网中野生动物对来源接近的英国和南极的持久性化学品的暴露，这些化学品长途运输到这个偏远的环境。它将产生关于它们的持久性、移动性、生物积累、通过食物链和长距离运输的生物放大作用的数据，以更好地了解野生动物接触化学品的环境途径及其可能产生的影响。这将产生关键数据，为监管决策提供信息，包括《斯德哥尔摩公约》中关于提名新的持久性有机污染物(POPs)的数据。该项目的一个初始组成部分将是进行文献审查，以确定受关注的化学品，以便进行有针对性的分析。这将与参与英国REACH和斯德哥尔摩公约(包括持久性有机污染物审查委员会-POPRC)的政府政策小组和监管机构(Defra和环境署)的观点结合起来，以确定哪些化学品将具有最大的监管相关性，以及哪些数据将具有最强的影响途径。该项目将需要开发分析方法，以制备复杂的生物样本(如鲸脂)，并得到非洲鲸脂协会小组的支持，包括通过实验室安置。预计还将在Defra持久性有机污染物和废物中的化学品小组中额外安置一名人员，以获得在政策环境中工作的经验和对多边环境协议的洞察。这些方法随后将应用于来自CEFA和英国南极调查组织档案和采样小组的英国和南极洲的生物样本。CEFA提供的组织包括鲸目动物(主要是江豚)、鲸目动物搁浅调查方案提供的鲸目动物和鱼类。从南极获得的样本包括海鸟和企鹅、鱼、底栖无脊椎动物和浮游动物。将对至少两个营养级别进行有针对性的分析，包括高营养级别/顶级捕食者。还将在最高营养级别进行非针对性分析，以确定在物种中发现新的生物累积化学物质的机会最高的地方。南极生物群样本还将允许我们对选定的化学品进行跨生态系统筛选，这些化学品涵盖初级生产者、草食动物、捕食者和高等捕食者。最后，该项目将通过分析环境样本(水和空气)来更好地了解环境暴露情况。如果可能，最后一年将通过英国南极调查局在南极洲进行实地工作，部署被动采样器来收集这些样本，但这不能保证。可以考虑在英国进行替代实地考察，包括通过Cefas Research船Cefas Endeavour。

Persistent chemicals accumulate in the environment as long as they continue to be released and are transported to remote environments far from their manufacture and use. Their impacts are poorlyreversible even after regulatory action as concentrations take decades to decline. Pollution is recognised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services as a top five direct driver of biodiversity loss and previous experience has found that persistent organic pollutants can have major impacts. This is clearly evidenced by the experience with DDT in predatory birds and PCBs in cetaceans. As such, pollution undermines the ambitions of the Leaders Pledge for Nature, to which the UK is a signatory, to step up global ambition on biodiversity and the UK's 25 Year Environment Plan. The Leaders Pledge commits to meaningful action and to significantly reduce environmental pollution. To achieve this for persistent chemicals, regulatory action requires a strong evidence base to identify chemicals of concern and to understand environmental exposures and the risks they pose to wildlife.This project will investigate exposure of wildlife across the food web to persistent chemicals close to source in the UK and in the Antarctic following their long range transport to this remote environment. It will generate data on their persistence, mobility, bioaccumulation, biomagnification through the food chain and long range transport to better understand the environmental exposure pathways of wildlife to chemicals and the impacts that they may have. This will generate key data to inform regulatory decision making, including in the Stockholm Convention for nominating new Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).An initial component of the project will be to undertake a literature review to identify chemicals of concern for targeted analysis. This will be combined with perspectives of government policy teams and regulators (Defra and the Environment Agency) involved in UK REACH and the Stockholm Convention (including the POPs Review Committee - POPRC) to define which chemicals will have the most regulatory relevance and where data will have the strongest pathway to impact. The project will require development of analytical methods to prepare complex biological samples (such as cetacean blubber) with support from the Cefas team, including through a laboratory placement. An additional placement with the Defra Persistent Organic Pollutants and Chemicals in Waste team is also foreseen to gain experience working in a policy environment and insight into multilateral environmental agreements.These methods will then be applied to biological samples from the UK and Antarctica from the Cefas and British Antarctic Survey tissue archives and sampling teams. Tissues available from Cefas include cetaceans (mainly harbour porpoises) from the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme and fish. Samples available from the Antarctic include seabirds and penguins, fish, benthic invertebrates and zooplankton. Targeted analysis will be conducted on at least two trophic levels, including a high trophic level/top predator. Non targeted analysis will also be conducted at the highest trophic level to identify new bioaccumulative chemicals in the species where there is the highest chance of finding them. Antarctic biota samples will also allow us to conduct a cross ecosystem screen for selected chemicals covering primary producers, herbivores, predators and higher predators. Finally the project will look to better understand environmental exposures by analysing environmental samples (water and air). If possible field work will be conducted in Antarctica in the final year through the British Antarctic Survey, deploying passive samplers to collect these samples, but this cannot be guaranteed. Alternative fieldwork in the UK, including through Cefas Research Vessel Cefas Endeavour may be considered.