Environmental fate of chlordecone in coastal habitats: recent studies conducted in Guadeloupe and Martinique (Lesser Antilles)

Type Article
Date 2022-01
Language English
Author(s) Dromard Charlotte R.1, Devault Damien2, 3, Bouchon-Navaro Yolande1, Allénou Jean-PierreORCID4, Budzinski Hélène2, Cordonnier Sébastien1, Tapie Nathalie2, Reynal LionelORCID4, Lemoine Soazig1, Thomé Jean-Pierre5, Thouard Emmanuel4, Monti Dominique1, Bouchon Claude1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Unité Biologie des organismes et écosystèmes aquatiques (BOREA), Université des Antilles, MNHN, Sorbonne UniversitéUniversité de Caen Normandie, CNRS, IRD, Pointe-à-Pitre, France
2 : UMR CNRS 5805 EPOC – OASU, Équipe LPTCUniversité de Bordeaux, Talence Cedex, France
3 : Unité Biologie des organismes et écosystèmes aquatiques (BOREA), Université des Antilles, MNHN, Sorbonne Université, Schœlcher, France
4 : IFREMER, Unité Biodiversité et Environnement de la Martinique Le Robert, France
5 : Laboratoire d’Ecologie Animale et d’Ecotoxicologie (LEAE-CART), Freshwater and Oceanic sciences Unit of reSearch (FOCUS), B6CLiège, Belgium
Source Environmental Science And Pollution Research (0944-1344) (Springer Nature), 2022-01 , Vol. 29 , N. 1 , P. 51-60
DOI 10.1007/s11356-019-04661-w
WOS© Times Cited 6
Keyword(s) Organochlorine pollution, Desorption, Allophane, Zooplankton, Trophic food webs, Bioamplification
Abstract

The organochlorine pollution by chlordecone, an insecticide spread in the past in banana plantations, is now recognized as a major ecological, economic, and social crisis in Guadeloupe and Martinique Islands. Due to its physical and chemical properties, this molecule is particularly persistent in the natural environment. Volcanic soil of Guadeloupe and Martinique contain allophanes (amorphous clays), which favor chlordecone trapping due to their structure and physical properties. Thus, with this trapping ability, allophanes serve as a vector allowing chlordecone to contaminate runoff waters and, finally, the sea. In the present publication, several studies recently conducted in the Lesser Antilles have been compiled in order to evaluate the desorption of chlordecone from allophanes when arriving in the estuarine environment and to determine the transfer of chlordecone along marine trophic food webs. The experiments showed that 20% of the initial quantity of chlordecone was released from allophanes in estuarine conditions and 10% in the marine environment. These results could explain the high level of contamination found in the suspended organic matter and zooplankton in the coastal areas located downstream of the contaminated watersheds. The contamination of the marine food webs of mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs is dominated by a contamination “by bath” in littoral waters containing chlordecone and by bioamplification seawards.

Full Text
File Pages Size Access
1 112 KB Access on demand
Author's final draft 15 702 KB Open access
10 816 KB Access on demand
Top of the page

How to cite 

Dromard Charlotte R., Devault Damien, Bouchon-Navaro Yolande, Allénou Jean-Pierre, Budzinski Hélène, Cordonnier Sébastien, Tapie Nathalie, Reynal Lionel, Lemoine Soazig, Thomé Jean-Pierre, Thouard Emmanuel, Monti Dominique, Bouchon Claude (2022). Environmental fate of chlordecone in coastal habitats: recent studies conducted in Guadeloupe and Martinique (Lesser Antilles). Environmental Science And Pollution Research, 29(1), 51-60. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04661-w , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00484/59551/