High resolution mass spectrometric non-target screening and wide-scope target analysis of emerging contaminants and target analysis of legacy contaminants in adult black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa in The Netherlands – preliminary findings

Contaminant monitoring can elucidate exposure of bird populations (and other species in the same biotic communities) to chemical risks. Long-term monitoring of contaminants in birds can moreover be used to assess the effectiveness of chemical risk management measures, identify emerging contaminants and inform chemical risk assessments, which can in turn support better chemicals management. We carried out a pilot study to assess contaminants in the Dutch breeding population of the black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa, a large wader. This is a widely distributed, migratory species, feeding in estuaries and swamps and breeding in wetlands and damp grasslands. The breeding population in The Netherlands winters in southern Europe and West Africa and contaminants in adults may therefore originate from a wide range of geographic locations. Chicks feed on Arthropods, adults on earthworms and leatherjackets and plant food. The species is classified by IUCN as Near Threatened and the breeding population in The Netherlands – where it is the National Bird – has declined significantly in recent years. We analysed contaminants in livers of 11 adult birds collected from both intensive pasture and semi-natural grassland habitats in SW Friesland – a region dominated by dairy farming. Livers were dissected at a state of the art lab to minimize risk of cross-contamination. Validated generic sample preparation protocols, designed to retain compounds with wide physicochemical properties, were used to extract both polar and non-polar emerging contaminants. Liver samples were analysed by non-target screening for 65,691 substances using cutting-edge LC-ESI (both RPLC and HILIC) and GC-APCI- HRMS methodologies. Recent advances in high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) offers the possibility of the simultaneous detection of thousands of compounds in environmental samples, allowing a comprehensive discovery of chemical space. Samples were also analysed using wide-scope target analysis by LC-ESI-QTOFMS and by GC-APCI-QTOF for more than 2400 chemicals of emerging concern (CECs). We also carried out target analysis for selected legacy organic substances and for 30 metals including Hg, Pb, Al, Fe, Cu, V, Zn, As, Se, Sr, Mo and Sb analysed by ICP-MS. The poster presents preliminary results for selected substances from the wide-scope target analyses and for the metals Hg, Cd, Pb and Ni.