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. 2022 Nov 17;12(22):3177.
doi: 10.3390/ani12223177.

Chlorinated Persistent Organic Pollutants (PCDD/Fs and PCBs) in Loggerhead Sea Turtles Stranded along the Central Adriatic Coast

Ludovica Di Renzo  1   2 , Roberta Ceci  1 , Silvia D'Antonio  1 , Gabriella Di Francesco  1 , Federica Di Giacinto  1 , Nicola Ferri  1 , Carla Giansante  1 , Manuela Leva  1 , Giulia Mariani  1   2 , Vincenzo Olivieri  2 , Simone Pulsoni  1 , Romolo Salini  1 , Giampiero Scortichini  1 , Giulio Tammaro  1 , Gianfranco Diletti  1
Affiliations

Chlorinated Persistent Organic Pollutants (PCDD/Fs and PCBs) in Loggerhead Sea Turtles Stranded along the Central Adriatic Coast

Ludovica Di Renzo et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Persistent organic pollutants are widespread in the marine environment. They can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in marine organisms through the food web with a potentially toxic effect on living organisms. The sea turtle Caretta caretta is a carnivorous animal with opportunistic feeding behavior. These turtles tend to bioaccumulate pollutants through food, and hence they can be considered an indicator of chemical pollutants in the marine ecosystem. In this study, 44 loggerhead sea turtles were considered, and liver and fat tissue were sampled from each of them to investigate the levels of dioxins (PCDD/Fs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in sea turtles and their potential correlation with sex and size in terms of curved carapace length (CCL). Results suggested that these contaminants were easily bioaccumulated, and PCBs were predominant compared to dioxins in both liver and fat tissue. The congener patterns were similar to those found in sea fish. Moreover, there were no differences in the contamination levels between females and males, nor was there a correlation with the size. There is a need to harmonize the methodological approaches to better evaluate the results and trends over time and to monitor the species and indirectly the health status of the marine environment.

Keywords: Adriatic Sea; Caretta caretta; PCBs; PCDD/Fs; POPs; congener pattern; sea turtles.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PCDD/Fs-, DL-PCBs-, and NDL-PCBs-normalized congener patterns in liver and fat tissue. Each pattern was normalized for the sum of the congeners of the respective class of contaminants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box-plot showing the comparison of the PCDD/Fs, DL-PCBs (pg WHO-TEQ g−1), and NDL-PCBs (ng g−1) between male (M -cyan) and female (F–pale red) in fat tissue (on the top) and liver (on the bottom) of sea turtles.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Box-plot showing the levels of PCDD/Fs, DL-PCBs (pg WHO-TEQ g-1), and NDL-PCBs (ng g−1) in sea turtles sorted by CCL range in fat tissue (on the top) and liver (on the bottom). From left to right: 31–40 cm (pale red), 41–50 cm (olive green), 51–60 cm (green), 61–70 cm (cyan), and 71–80 cm (pink).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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