Trend analysis biota

Third, continued periodic monitoring of fishery and wildlife resources is important, especially in areas with potential for reservoir development, in light of the hypothesis that increased flooding increases the availability of mercury to biota. The use of museum collections for mercury analysis is strongly recommended for monitoring purposes. For example, the Environmental Specimen Bank at the Swedish Museum of Natural History constitutes a base for ecotoxicological research and for spatial and trend monitoring of mercury and other contaminants in Swedish fauna (Odsjo et al. 1997). 

Sediments and biota remain priorities for future CP monitoring according to risk assessments. Analysis of dated sediment cores from Europe and from Asia would help assess the current and past deposition in aquatic environments. Temporal trends of CPs in biota need to be studied and there are a number of wildlife and human tissue banks that could supply suitable samples. While there has been much focus on levels in biota in aquatic environments, more work is needed on levels in terrestrial biota to follow up the early work that demonstrated high concentrations in herbivores. This should include more measurements of human tissue samples (blood, mother s milk) given the potential for human exposure via house dust, vegetation, and meat of herbivorous animals. 

B., and Boon, J.P. (2001) Methods for the analysis of polybrominated diphenylethers in sediments and biota. Trends AnaL Chem., 10, 591-599. 

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