Impact of organic contaminants in soils from Important Bird and Biodiversity areas.

Soils act as sinks for many organic contaminants, posing a threat to biodiversity and essential ecosystem services. In this study, we assessed the contamination status of soils in 140 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) in Spain. Fifty-two organic contaminants including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and plasticizers or plastic related such as phthalates, bisphenol A, nonylphenol, and organophosphate esters (OPEs) were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS).

Assessing Contamination Profiles in Livers from Road-Killed Owls.

Raptors are recognized as valuable sentinel species for monitoring environmental contaminants owing to their foraging behavior across terrestrial and aquatic food webs and their high trophic position. The present study monitored environmental contaminants in livers from road-killed owls to evaluate differences in the exposure patterns due to factors such as species, age, and sex of individuals. Carcasses of road-killed individuals of eagle owl (Bubo bubo), long-eared owl (Asio otus), little owl (Athene noctua), tawny owl (Strix aluco), and barn owl (Tyto alba) were collected in Alentejo (Portugal).

Mediterranean springs: Keystone ecosystems and biodiversity refugia threatened by global change.

Mediterranean spring ecosystems are unique habitats at the interface between surface water and groundwater. These ecosystems support a remarkable array of biodiversity and provide important ecological functions and ecosystem services. Spring ecosystems are influenced by abiotic, biotic, and anthropogenic factors such as the lithology of their draining aquifers, their climate, and the land use of their recharge area, all of which affect the water chemistry of the aquifer and the spring discharges.

Target and untargeted screening of perfluoroalkyl substances in biota using liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry.

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are known to bioaccumulate and trigger adverse effects in marine birds. This study develops an extraction and analytical methodology for the target/untargeted analysis of PFAS in eggs of Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) and Audouin's gull (Larus audouinii) and blood of Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), which are used as bioindicators of organic chemical pollution. Samples were extracted by ultrasonication with acetonitrile and cleaned-up with activated carbon, and analysis was performed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometer (UHPLC-Q-TOF) with negative electrospray ionization.

Water pollution threats in important bird and biodiversity areas from Spain.

Chemical pollution is still an underestimated threat to surface waters from natural areas. This study has analysed the presence and distribution of 59 organic micropollutants (OMPs) including pharmaceuticals, lifestyle compounds, pesticides, organophosphate esters (OPEs), benzophenone and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in 411 water samples from 140 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) from Spain, to evaluate the impact of these pollutants in sites of environmental relevance. Lifestyle compounds, pharmaceuticals and OPEs were the most ubiquitous chemical families, while pesticides and PFASs showed a detection frequency below 25% of the samples.