Climate change drives persistent organic pollutant dynamics in marine environments

Understanding climate change impacts in combination with other anthropogenic stressors, such as chemical pollution, is critical to identifying vulnerable marine ecosystems. This paper presents a systematic review and conceptual model mapping evidence of the marine environmental fate and biological effects of persistent organic pollutants with shifting climate drivers. Increasing ice melt, atmospheric deposition, and sediment remobilization are altering persistent organic pollutant dynamics in northern polar environments, but with data gaps elsewhere. While limited to fish and invertebrates, principal biological effect pathways involve reduced survival and perturbed thermal regulation and bioenergetics, notably in some populations residing in more heavily polluted and thermal edge habitats. Associated food web shifts with climate change are also altering persistent organic pollutant bioaccumulation among some marine mammal and seabird populations and assemblages. The evidence suggests potential ecological deterioration in some areas, with many unknowns underscoring the need for advancing experimental and modeling tools to evaluate these complex interactions.