Distribution characteristics of the typical persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Suaeda heteroptera

The Suaeda heteroptera are widely distributed in intertidal zone, in order to investigate its function in preventing the transfer of the contaminants from land to sea, the levels and the distribution characteristics of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE209), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Suaeda heteroptera and their associated soils were studied with GC-MS. The results indicated that the levels of these pollutants in Suaeda heteroptera were in the following order: sigma PAHs > OCPs > BDE209 > sigma PCBs (96-1 506 ng/g, 14-577 ng/g, 1.8-33 ng/g, and 399-2 161 pg/g, respectively). The levels of OCPs, PAHs, and PCBs in sediments from Yingkou intertidal zone were higher than that from Donying intertidal zone, however, these pollutants in Suaeda heteroptera leaves were approximately equal, respectively. The distribution of OCPs in Suaeda heteroptera appeared in the following order: stem > root > leaf, and the distribution of PAHs and PCBs in Suaeda heteroptera from Dongying intertidal zone were different from Yingkou intertidal zone, due to the difference of the organic matter content in sediments. The level of BDE209 in sediment from Dongying intertidal zone (19.7 ng/g) was higher than that from Yingkou intertidal zone (2.36 ng/g), and appeared different distribution in Suaeda heteroptera from the two intertidal zones.