Recent anthropogenic activity has drastically altered the chemical landscape, affecting the types and concentrations of chemicals present in the environment. Accelerated land use change and landscape fragmentation associated with the expansion of agriculture and urbanization has resulted in the widespread introduction of agrochemical and industrial pollutants. This trend poses a critical threat in rapidly developing tropical countries, which are often biodiversity hotspots comprised of a high number of endemic species with significant habitat loss.While efforts to preserve tropical ecosystems and the threatened species dependent on them have largely focused on the creation of protected areas, few studies have examined the risks of anthropogenic pollutants within protected areas. Therefore, we investigated the occurrence of anthropogenic pollutants within and surrounding protected tropical forests, including biological research stations and national parks across biodiversity hotspots in Costa Rica and Uganda. We deployed passive air samplers to measure atmospheric concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), current use pesticides (CUPs), halogenated flame retardants (HFRs), and organophosphate esters (OPEs).
Results/Conclusions
Median OCP, CUP, HFR, and OPE concentrations in Costa Rica were 7.04 pg/m3, 112 pg/m3, 2.99 pg/m3, and 601 pg/m3, respectively, andin Uganda 5.02 pg/m3, 7.45 pg/m3, 12.1 pg/m3, and 191 pg/m3, respectively. OCPs and CUPs were generally higher in Costa Rica, but high concentrations of HFRs were observed inside Kibale National Park, Uganda, a protected area serving as home to one of the world’s most diverse and abundant primate communities.We interpret this variation in light of surrounding land use outside the protected areas and anthropogenic activities occurring within them. We further highlight chemical pollution as an overlooked threat to tropical conservation and, the ecological and evolutionary implications of wildlife exposure to these potential toxicants. We discuss future directions for the use of non-invasive biomonitoring for examining exposure to and effects of anthropogenic chemicals in wildlife populations.