![\"Research](\"https:\/\/nilu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/eldbjorg-dorte-foto-lindahanssen.jpg\")
The researchers are looking for various pollutants \u2013 everything from heavy metals such as lead, to chemicals such as flame retardants and perfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS). The analyses reveal which pollutants end up in the animals\u2019 tissues as a direct result of how we humans influence nature and the environment in the cities we live in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually know less about pollutants in terrestrial animals than about pollutants in marine ecosystems,\u201d says research director and environmental chemist Eldbj\u00f8rg Heimstad. \u201cThat\u2019s why the Norwegian Environment Agency started this monitoring programme with a focus on animals in cities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researchers\u2019 findings provide vital information for the Environment Agency. The data are used not just within Norway, but also for international pollutant regulations such as REACH and the Stockholm Convention.<\/p>\n
The sins of our fathers<\/h2>\n
Oslo is the largest city in Norway, encompassing both densely populated areas, industrialised zones, and forests. This means that scientists must take samples from soil, air, and animals in both industrial and residential zones, in parks, sporting and recreational areas, water treatment plants, and abandoned landfills to get a complete overview of the situation.<\/p>\n
Researchers analyse the samples for hundreds of pollutants, which are then sorted into groups: metals, PCBs, PBDEs, chlorinated paraffins, PFAS, pesticides, etc. For each class of substances, pollutant levels are compared across species and locations. In addition, the researchers assess which groups of substances predominate in the various samples and species, and try to determine where the pollution comes from.<\/p>\n
Senior researcher Dorte Herzke says that both the types and the levels of pollutants they find vary greatly from place to place.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, we found the highest concentration of PFAS in the form of PFOS in fieldfare eggs from Gr\u00f8nmo, in earthworms from Alnabru, and in rat liver in general. We have observed this for several years running: the PFOS concentration in fieldfare from Gr\u00f8nmo, for example, is more than ten times higher than the average in other fieldfare eggs. Since Gr\u00f8nmo is an old landfill, and Alnabru is an industrial area, these levels aren\u2019t terribly surprising. These \u2018sins of our fathers\u2019 still affect the environment around us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where do the pollutants come from?<\/h2>\n
In the case of all those rats with excessive PFOS concentrations, identifying a single source is more difficult. The most plausible explanation is that multiple places in the city are polluted by PFAS. But can we assume that the animals take up the pollutants at the sites where they are captured?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biologists at NINA have explained that the animals are most likely to get the substances locally,\u201d says Herzke. \u201cBirds can travel long distances, but they metabolise what they eat very quickly \u2013 especially the smaller birds. Thus, the chances are that the pollutants we find in their eggs are ingested close to the nesting sites.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it isn\u2019t always easy to figure out exactly what has happened. When scientists find rat poison in foxes, they can\u2019t tell whether the fox has fed on poisoned rat bait, or on rats that have eaten poison and become sick and easier to catch. The latter is what researchers call secondary poisoning; it can also be suspected when lead is found in predatory birds and mammals. Did the predators consume the lead directly, or did they get it by eating prey or carrion containing lead shot?<\/p>\n
Sunscreen and soap drift away<\/h2>\n
Heimstad goes on to highlight differences between the air samples they have taken and the other samples. They find completely different levels of some pollutants in the air samples than in the samples from animals, soil, and water.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake siloxanes, for example,\u201d she says. \u201cThat is a group of pollutants that are widely used in personal care products, such as shampoo, sunscreen, soap, and moisturiser. Siloxanes are very volatile, that is, they evaporate easily. When you shower, they\u2019re washed down the drain, so we find them in air samples from VEAS, Norway\u2019s largest wastewater treatment plant. They also appear in air samples taken in Oslo\u2019s popular Palace Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thus, the air can tell us something about the substances we city-dwellers surround ourselves with. The researchers also find many other substances that are less volatile, that are resistant to breakdown, and that both humans and animals are exposed to mainly through the food we eat. In most samples from animals, the researchers find that the well-known pollutants PFAS and PCB predominate.<\/p>\n
Unique monitoring<\/h2>\n
At present, no other country runs a similar monitoring programme. Individual studies have been done, but the exceptional feature of this Norwegian programme is that the testing is done repeatedly, and with the same design, over many years. This provides unique insight into developments over time, while offering opportunities to follow up on interesting findings and expand the programme if necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestigating local pollution is important,\u201d says Heimstad. \u201cNot only does it reveal old sins; it also exposes new ones. Over the next four years, we will expand the sampling programme to cover additional substances, more locations (such as Marka, the forested zone around Oslo), and new species. Roe deer, bees, bumblebees, snails, nursery web spiders and rowan trees are on the list.<\/p>\n
The animals in Norway\u2019s capital live side by side with its human inhabitants \u2013 everything humans make, emit, and throw away. This is what leads to the locally high levels of pollutants, because only a fraction of the substances that environmental scientists find in Oslo\u2019s animals occur naturally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe study animals and the environment,\u201d says Herzke. \u201cWe can\u2019t say for sure what our findings imply for humans, but they can probably serve as an indicator of what we can expect to find in people. Maybe we should be more mindful of that? And of the fact that we have a responsibility to know what chemicals we release, and an obligation to minimise the amounts released to the local environment we share with Oslo\u2019s wildlife?\u201d<\/p>\n Every year since 2012, NILU \u2013 Norwegian Institute for Air Research, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) have been collecting a variety of samples from several different animals living in and around Oslo, and analysing their content of pollutants, on behalf of the Norwegian Environment Agency. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsarchive"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13750"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13900,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13750\/revisions\/13900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Meitemark\"](\"https:\/\/nilu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/meitemark-jord-foto-eldbjorgheimstad-1.jpg\")