An overview of POP levels and trends in Antarctic trophic webs: a starting point for future research

Contamination in the Antarctic ecosystems was first reported in 1966 and there has been an increasing interest in studying the presence of pollutants in this pristine polar region since then. This awareness has been growing in recent years, as the Arctic has been reported as a final sink for persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The Arctic is a perennially frozen sea surrounded by continents, Antarctica is a snow-covered continent surrounded by the Southern Ocean; besides geographical features, several factors may determine the POP occurrence and deposition, such as proximity to sources and their physicochemical properties. Degradation of deposited POPs is very slow in the polar regions due to the low temperatures and winter darkness. Moreover, ice can entrap POPs and release them into the environment, when it melts, allowing them to enter trophic webs, bioaccumulate in tissues of organisms and biomagnify.