The emerging and legacy persistent organic contaminants in corals of the South China Sea

Yao-Wen Qiu; Jun Li; Mei-Xia Zhao; Ke-Fu Yu; Gan Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142324

The emerging and legacy persistent organic contaminants in corals of the South China Sea

Chemosphere. 2024 May 11:359:142324. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142324. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yao-Wen Qiu¹, Jun Li², Mei-Xia Zhao³, Ke-Fu Yu⁴, Gan Zhang²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, 511458, China. Electronic address: yqiu@scsio.ac.cn.
² State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China; Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Coral Reef Research Center of China, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China.

PMID: 38740339
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142324

Abstract

Seawater warming, ocean acidification and chemical pollution are the main threats to coral growth and even survival. The legacy persistent organic contaminants (POCs), such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and the emerging contaminants, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), dechlorane plus (DPs) and novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) were studied in corals from Luhuitou fringing reef in Sanya Bay and Yongle atoll in Xisha Islands, the South China Sea (SCS). Total average concentrations of ∑₁₆PAHs, ∑₂₃OCPs, ∑₃₄PCBs, ∑₈PBDEs, ∑₂DPs and ∑₅NBFRs in 20 coral species (43 samples) from the SCS were 40.7 ± 34.6, 5.20 ± 5.10, 0.197 ± 0.159, 3.30 ± 3.70, 0.041 ± 0.042 and 36.4 ± 112 ng g^-1 dw, respectively. PAHs and NBFRs were the most abundant compounds and they are likely to be dangerous pollutants for future coral growth. Compared to those found in other coral reef regions, these pollutants concentrations in corals were at low to median levels. Except for PBDEs, POCs in massive Porites were significantly higher than those in branch Acropora and Pocillopora (p < 0.01), as large, closely packed corals may be beneficial for retaining more pollutant. The current study contributes valuable data on POCs, particularly for halogenated flame retardants (HFRs, including PBDEs, DPs and NBFRs), in corals from the SCS, and will improve our knowledge of the occurrence and fate of these pollutants in coral reef ecosystems.

Keywords: Coral reefs; Halogenated flame retardants (HFRs); Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs); Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).