Nationwide monitoring of seabirds reveals species- and site-specific legacy PFAS contamination in French coastal areas
By Prescillia Lemesle, Alice Carravieri, Gauthier Poiriez, Romain Batard, Aurélie Blanck, Coraline Bichet, Gilles Faggio, Jérôme Fort, Fabrice Gallien, William Jouanneau, Pamela Lagrange, Carole Leray, Ignacio Martinez-Alvarez, Aourell Mauffret, Karen D McCoy, Patrick Pardon, Pascal Provost, Bernard Recorbet, Manrico Sebastiano, Nathalie Wessel, Pierre Labadie, Hélène Budzinski, Olivier Chastel, and Paco Bustamante
Environ Int
June 24, 2026
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2026.110386
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (hereafter PFAS) are widespread and persistent compounds that pose a threat to human and wildlife health. Wildlife monitoring is essential to understand the extent of PFAS contamination and its ecological drivers. Seabirds are good bioindicators of PFAS contamination of the marine environment, yet some areas, including the French coastlines, remain poorly covered. Here, we quantified 11 legacy PFAS in the plasma of 9 seabird species (n = 340 chicks) from 30 sites along the French Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Linear perfluorooctanesulfonic acid was by far the most abundant PFAS. Oceanic piscivorous species (Northern gannets Morus bassanus, black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla and Scopoli's shearwaters Calonectris diomedea) had the highest PFAS concentrations compared to Larus sp. gulls and shags Gulosus aristotelis. Overall, Mediterranean seabirds had lower perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acid and higher perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acid concentrations compared to Atlantic seabirds. At a finer spatial scale, chicks sampled near estuaries had a slightly higher PFAS burden, suggesting local riverine inputs. This first large-scale survey of PFAS in French seabirds reveals substantial heterogeneity in PFAS contamination across French coastal environments. Future work should address the sources of this PFAS contamination and quantify its toxicological consequences, given that sampled chicks may be at risk based on previous avian studies reporting PFAS-related health effects.
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