Prof. Christian Sonne
Aarhus University, Denmark
Abstract: Exposure to long-range transported industrial chemicals such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and other pollutants such as mercury pose a risk to the overall health and populations of Arctic wildlife and Northerners. Since local communities are relying on the same marine food web as marine mammals in the Arctic, it requires a One Health approach to understand the holistic ecosystem health including that of the environment, animals and humans. Given the long marine food chains and the biomagnification of most contaminants, top predators such as Inuits, polar bears and toothed whales end up with extremely high exposures posing risks of effects at population-level. Here I give an overview of the current knowledge on POPs and mercury in the Arctic environment, molecular effects and the consequences for animals and humans in terms of adverse health effects. I also discuss the future perspectives of planetary health in relation to other stressors such as climate change and zoonotic infectious diseases.
Host：Assist. Prof. Deming Han
Early Career Board Member
Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study,UCAS
Time：15:00pm August 9, 2023 (Beijing time)
Zoom ID: 816 9975 7155
Bilibili: 25002335
