Environmental behaviour of short-chain chlorinated paraffins in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems of Ny-Ã lesund and London Island, Svalbard, in the Arctic

- Environmental behaviour of SCCPs was investigated in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic.
- No biomagnification of SCCPs was found between cod and gammarid species.
- SCCPs were bio-accumulated in vegetation samples in the terrestrial ecosystems.
- The number of carbon atoms had a greater influence on the BAFs of SCCPs in terrestrial species than that of the number of chlorine atoms.

The environmental behaviour of short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) was investigated in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic. The mean concentrations of SCCPs in the aquatic and terrestrial samples were 178.9 ng/g dry weight (dw) and 157.2 ng/g dw, respectively. Short carbon chain (C10) and less-chlorinated (Cl6) congener groups were predominant in the Arctic samples, accounting for 48.6% and 34.8% of the total SCCPs, respectively. The enrichment of lighter SCCP congener groups (i.e., fewer chlorine atoms with shorter carbon chain lengths) indicated that the fractionation process occurred during long-range transport. The biomagnification factor (BMF) was 0.46 from gammarid to cod, which indicated that the SCCPs did not biomagnify between these two species. The soil-vegetation bioaccumulation factor (BAF) of SCCPs was 29.9, and C13 and Cl7, 8 congener groups tended to accumulate in the terrestrial vegetation. Regression analysis (BAFs = 10.9 × #C + 5.6 × #Cl − 125.2, R = 0.53, P < 0.01) showed that the number of carbon and chlorine atoms influenced the bioaccumulative behaviour of SCCPs and suggested that the number of carbon atoms had a greater influence on the BAFs of SCCPs in the terrestrial ecosystem than did the number of chlorine atoms.

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