PMID- 23435060 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20130830 LR - 20131121 IS - 1879-1026 (Electronic) IS - 0048-9697 (Linking) VI - 449 DP - 2013 Apr 1 TI - Spatial and temporal trends of persistent organic pollutants and mercury in beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) from Alaska. PG - 285-94 LID - S0048-9697(13)00127-7 [pii] LID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.01.072 [doi] AB - Remote locations, such as the Arctic, are often sinks for persistent contaminants which can ultimately bioaccumulate in local wildlife. Assessing temporal contaminant trends in the Arctic is important in understanding whether restrictions on legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have led to concentration declines. Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) tissue samples were collected from two subpopulations (Cook Inlet, Alaska and the eastern Chukchi Sea) between 1989 and 2006. Several POPs (polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane and related compounds (DDTs), chlordanes, hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), chlorobenzenes, mirex, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and semi-quantitatively hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs)) were measured in 70 blubber samples, and total mercury (Hg) was measured in 67 liver samples from a similar set of individuals. Legacy POPs (PCBs, chlordanes, DDTs, and HCHs) were the predominant organic compound classes in both subpopulations, with median concentrations of 2360ng/g lipid for Sigma80PCBs and 1890 ng/g lipid for Sigma6DDTs. Backward stepwise multiple regressions showed that at least one of the four independent variables (subpopulation, sampling year, sex, and animal length) influenced the POP and Hg concentrations. SigmaPCBs, SigmaDDTs, Sigmachlordanes, Sigmachlorobenzenes, mirex, and Hg were significantly higher in belugas from the eastern Chukchi Sea than from the Cook Inlet (p