Concomitant evaluation of atmospheric levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Strasbourg (France) using pine needle passive samplers
Résumé
In this study, pine needles were used as costeffective
and reliable passive bio-monitors to concomitantly
evaluate atmospheric concentrations of three classes
of persistent organic pollutants, polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The extraction of persistent
organic pollutants (POPs) from needle samples was
performed. Eleven PCBs, 11 OCPs, and 15 PAHs were
detected and followed through time in needle samples
from three sites in the Strasbourg region. The urban and
rural sites were more exposed to PCBs than the suburban
site. The highest concentration of PCBs was found at the
urban site, but the largest number of congeners (10) was
detected at the rural site. PCB 189 and 156 were the
predominant congeners in the rural site and PCB 70 in
the urban site. For OCPs, the rural site displayed the
highest concentrations (up to 22.9 ng g−1) and number of
compounds investigated (9). The high concentration of γ-
and β-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) at that time in the
urban site was the reason for this result. γ- and β-HCH
were the two predominant compounds in all samples. The
suburban and urban sites were the most exposed with
PAHs with pyrene, phenanthrene, and acenaphthene being
the three predominant compounds in these sites. No specific
trend in terms of time was apparent for PCBs and
OCPs. However, higher concentrations were detected for
some compounds in the first sampling, especially for
PAHs, and this is attributed to variations in meteorological
conditions (e.g., temperature, wind, rain) and variable inputs
from both identified and unidentified sources.