Zooplankton as an early warning system of persistent organic pollutants contamination in a deep lake (lake Iseo, Northern Italy)

Abstract

The lake Iseo has been recently contaminated by DDT residues, originated from the melting of a glacier that released the pollutants accumulated in the past. Because of this recent input, DDT residues concentrations rose more quickly in zooplankton than in fish during 2009. In autumn 2010 the ratio drastically dropped to one–two for all the compounds indicating that the glacial DDT load should have been ceased. The situation was different for PCBs that were released to a much lower extent from glaciers. The PCB 138 ratio between zooplankton and fish was always around one–two in both years. As the zooplankton response to pollution changes resulted particularly prompt, our research highlights the importance of this component as an early warning bioindicator of hydrophobic pollutants.