Penguin ‘toxicologists’ find PFAS chemicals in remote Patagonia

Study shows non-invasive way animals can help monitor their environment

University of California - Davis

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Magellanic penguins in Argentina served as sentinels of their own environment by wearing chemical-detecting leg bands for a few days during their breeding season in a UC Davis and SUNY-Buffalo study.

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Credit: Ralph Vanstreels/UC Davis

Penguins living along the Patagonian coast of Argentina can serve as living monitors of their environment by using small, chemical-detecting leg bands, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, and the State University of New York at Buffalo.

For the proof-of-concept study, published in the journal Earth: Environmental Sustainability, UC Davis scientists outfitted 54 Magellanic penguins with silicone passive samplers placed gently around their legs for a few days during the 2022-24 breeding seasons. The sensors safely absorbed chemicals from the water, air and surfaces the penguins encountered while the unwitting “toxicologists” foraged to feed their chicks.

Once retrieved, the samplers were sent to University at Buffalo-SUNY for testing, which revealed that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — often called “forever chemicals” — were detected in more than 90% of the bands, even in this remote region. 

“The only way we’ve had of measuring pollutant exposure in the past is by getting blood samples or feathers,” said co-corresponding author Ralph Vanstreels, a wildlife veterinarian with the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center within the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. “It’s exciting to have something that is only minimally invasive. The penguins are choosing the sample sites for us and letting us know where it’s important to monitor more deeply. As the animals go about their business, they’re telling us a lot about the environment they’re experiencing.”

Testing revealed a mixture of older legacy pollutants, as well as chemicals that replaced phased-out PFAS.

“By using a non‑invasive sampling approach, we were able to detect a shift from legacy PFAS to newer replacement chemicals in the penguins’ environment over time,” said senior author Diana Aga, a SUNY distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry at University at Buffalo. “The presence of GenX and other replacement PFAS — chemicals typically associated with nearby industrial sources — shows that these compounds are not staying local but are reaching even the most remote ecosystems. This raises important concerns that newer PFAS, despite being designed as safer alternatives, are still persistent enough to spread globally and pose exposure risks to wildlife.”

Chemicals and conservation

The study provides an efficient, practical means of tracking the locations and times of chemical exposure, particularly in hard-to-sample aquatic environments. The authors envision the method being used to identify pollution exposure from oil spills, shipwrecks and other industrial sources.

“Moving forward, we’d like to increase our environmental detectives by expanding to different species,” Vanstreels said, adding that they next plan to test the method on cormorants, which can dive to depths of more than 250 feet.

“By turning penguins into sentinels of their environment, we have a powerful new way to communicate issues relevant for wildlife health and more broadly for the conservation of marine species and our oceans,” said coauthor Marcela Uhart, director of the Latin America Program within the UC Davis Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center. 

Additional coauthors include first author Paige Montgomery and Katarzyna Kordas from University at Buffalo-SUNY; and Luciana Gallo, Gabriela Blanco and Flavio Quintana from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas in Argentina (CONICET). 

The study was funded by the Houston Zoo.

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DOI

10.53941/eesus.2026.100009 

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Penguins as Sentinel Species for Monitoring Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): Evaluation of Silicone Passive Samplers as a Non-Invasive Tool

A chemical-sensing, silicone passive sampler is worn as an ankle band on this penguin in Argentina.

An adult Magellanic penguin stands with its chick during breeding season in Argentina. 

Researchers deploy a chemical-sensing ankle band on a Magellanic penguin in Argentina.

Close-up of a chemical-sensing ankle band, or silicone passive sampler, on a penguin.

Magellanic penguins, like this one in Argentina, showed that penguins can help monitor their own environments by wearing small, retrievable leg bands that collect information about pollution they encounter.

Credit

Ralph Vanstreels/UC Davis

Study links PFAS exposure to weaker immune response, underscoring need for water protections

Michigan State University

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Why this matters:

• PFAS are found in drinking water, food packaging and everyday household products.
• Exposure is widespread across the United States.
• The immune system is one of the most sensitive targets of PFAS exposure.
• This study suggests those effects may persist into adulthood — not just childhood.
• Findings reinforce the importance of strong drinking water standards and reducing exposure.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – New research finds that exposure to PFAS may weaken the immune system in adults, raising new concerns about the long-term health effects of these widely used chemicals.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a large class of human-made chemicals used in products ranging from nonstick cookware and stain-resistant fabrics to firefighting foams. Often called “forever chemicals,” they do not easily break down in the environment and can accumulate in the human body over time.

Some PFAS remain in the body for years. One compound highlighted in the study, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid, or PFHxS, can persist for nearly a decade, making it a particularly important marker of long-term exposure.

In a study of people previously exposed to PFAS through contaminated drinking water, researchers found that individuals with higher levels of the forever chemicals in their blood produced fewer protective antibodies when their immune systems encountered a new virus — a key measure of how effectively the body responds to infection.

“Antibodies act like tiny soldiers, helping the body recognize and fight off viruses,” said Courtney Carignan, senior author of the study and an environmental health researcher at Michigan State University.

When fewer of these “soldiers” are produced, the immune system may be less effective at fighting infection.

“These results raise important concerns about how long-term exposure to PFAS reduces the body’s ability to respond to infections, even in adulthood,” Carignan said.

The effect was strongest among older adults, men and people who were overweight — groups that often have higher PFAS levels in their bodies.

For some families, those effects are already a reality.

“When you find out your family has been exposed, it changes everything — especially how you think about your children’s health,” said Tobyn McNaughton, a Belmont, Michigan, mother whose family was affected by contaminated drinking water. “We’re poisoned people. We learned that some of my son’s childhood vaccines weren’t fully effective due to his compromised immune system, and that’s something no parent expects to face.”

McNaughton connected with Carignan in 2018 after high levels of PFAS were found in her family’s drinking water and has since become a clean water advocate with the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network, a group co-founded by her neighbor Sandy Wynn-Stelt that is centered and driven by people impacted by toxic PFAS pollution.

Carignan said McNaughton’s and others’ experiences reflect broader patterns seen in the data.

“Previous studies in adults have produced mixed results, in part because prior exposures and existing immunity can make responses difficult to isolate,” Carignan said. “The pandemic provided a rare opportunity to observe how the immune system responds to a new virus, allowing us to more clearly detect how PFAS exposure may influence antibody production and helping resolve long-standing uncertainty about its effects in adults. Our findings make clear that PFAS exposure can affect immune response in adults in addition to the known effects in children.”

The findings come as the United States continues to debate and implement new drinking water standards for PFAS. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized its first enforceable drinking water standards for certain PFAS chemicals in 2024, but implementation timelines and enforcement for some compounds have since shifted.

Carignan said the findings support efforts to reduce PFAS exposure — particularly through drinking water — and highlight the importance of continued monitoring and regulation.

“Exposure to PFAS is widespread, but it is also preventable,” Carignan said. “Reducing levels in drinking water is one of the most effective ways to lower exposure and protect public health.”

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Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 170 years. Among the world’s top 100 universities and a leading U.S. public research institution, MSU pushes the limits of discovery and innovation to advance the state of Michigan and the nation, and make a better, safer, healthier world for all. The university provides life-changing educational opportunities through an inclusive academic community with more than 400 programs of study and is the largest producer of talent for Michigan, educating more undergraduates than any other university in the state.

For generations, Spartans have been changing the world through research. Federal funding helps power many of the discoveries that improve lives and keep America at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. From lifesaving cancer treatments to solutions that advance technology, agriculture, energy and more, MSU researchers work every day to shape a better future for the people of Michigan and beyond. Learn more about MSU’s research impact powered by partnership with the federal government. 

For MSU news on the web, go to MSUToday or x.com/MSUnews.

 

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Journal

Environmental Research

DOI

10.1016/j.envres.2026.124154 

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Associations of serum PFAS with COVID-19 antibody levels among fully vaccinated adults

BAN DEEP SEA TRAWLERS!

Bottom trawling catches thousands of fish species, including those most at-risk

University of British Columbia

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The critically endangered giant guitarfish is among the species being caught by bottom trawling, according to a new global inventory published by University of British Columbia researchers (Sarah Foster, University of British Columbia).

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Credit: Sarah Foster, University of British Columbia

More than 3,000 fish species have been caught in bottom trawls, with estimates suggesting the true number could be nearly double, according to the world’s first global inventory.

Published in Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC), the study draws on more than 9,000 records of fish species reported in bottom trawls from 1895 to 2021.

“This is the clearest picture we’ve had of the breadth of bottom trawling. It reveals just how many species are being caught, and how much we have been missing,” said first author Dr. Sarah Foster, senior researcher and program leader at UBC’s Project Seahorse.

Extinction risk in the net

Bottom trawling drags heavy nets across the seafloor, sweeping up most marine life and habitats in its path. It is one of the most widespread and destructive fishing practices. Yet very little is known about what species are caught and how catches affect marine biodiversity.

“We can’t manage what we don’t know. When we remove thousands of species without understanding the impacts on their wild populations, we risk destabilizing the very systems that fisheries depend on,” added Dr. Foster.

The study found that one in seven fish species recorded in bottom trawl catches with assigned conservation status are threatened or near threatened with extinction, based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, the global standard for assessing extinction risk.

One in four reported fish species are classified as either data deficient, where not enough information is available for a conservation assessment, or have not been evaluated, which means a large portion of bottom trawling is operating in an information vacuum.

Among the species recorded are the critically endangered giant guitarfish, the endangered zebra shark, and at least three vulnerable seahorse species.

Seahorse species designated as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature are among the bycatch being captured by bottom trawling, according to a new global inventory published by University of British Columbia researchers (Sarah Foster, University of British Columbia).

The data also shows that bottom trawls catch all or most species in some fish families. These include both the ocean's most nutritious and commercially critical fishes, such as jacks and croakers, and rare, distinct groups such as giant guitarfish and plough-nosed chimera.

“Bottom trawling sweeps up entire branches from the marine tree of life. It does not discriminate between common species and those already on the brink of extinction. From critically endangered giant guitarfishes to vulnerable plough-nosed chimeras and seahorses, we put pressure on evolutionarily unique species, including many we still know too little about,” said co-author Syd Ascione, a research biologist at Project Seahorse.

More than “trash”

The study also found that smaller fish species are often not recorded at all and are likely being grouped under vague categories such as “trash fish” or “mixed fish,” hiding the true number of species being caught. Additionally, where this information was reported, approximately 95 per cent of the species were not being targeted by the fisheries yet 64 per cent were kept anyway.

Together, the researchers say the findings suggest that what is recorded is only a glimpse of the true toll bottom trawling has on marine ecosystems – and highlight the urgent need to rethink how bottom trawl catches are documented, assessed and managed.

A call to action

Nearly 99 per cent of bottom trawling takes place within countries’ national waters and jurisdictions, meaning governments have both the authority and responsibility to manage impacts on biodiversity and fisheries.

“We allow at least 100,000 trawlers to scrape the ocean floor, without even knowing what they are catching, and what damage they are doing to those species. It is important that governments take a precautionary approach and exclude bottom trawling from large swathes of the ocean, and particularly from so-called marine protected areas.” added senior author Dr. Amanda Vincent, director of Project Seahorse.

Seahorse species designated as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature are among the bycatch being captured by bottom trawling, according to a new global inventory published by University of British Columbia researchers (Sarah Foster, University of British Columbia).

Credit

Sarah Foster, University of British Columbia

Journal

Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries

DOI

10.1007/s11160-026-10043-6 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Article Title

Global diversity of marine fishes caught in bottom trawl fisheries

 

Heat from traffic is contributing to rise in city temperatures, new study finds

University of Manchester

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Manchester city centre street with traffic

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Credit: University of Manchester

Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed a new way to measure how traffic contributes to rising urban temperatures, revealing that everyday vehicle use can play a measurable role in making cities warmer.

The researchers created a new physics-based module that allows heat produced by urban traffic to be represented directly within the Community Earth System Model (CESM) – one of the world’s most widely used global climate models for predicting how the Earth’s climate behaves.

By adding urban traffic-related heat processes directly into the numerical model, the team were able to show how vehicles can measurably raise temperatures in cities and influence how heat moves between roads, buildings and the surrounding air.

The study, published in the Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, used real-world traffic data, supplied by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), alongside open datasets to validate the model for Manchester, UK, and Toulouse, France.

Lead author Dr Zhonghua Zheng, Co-Lead for Environmental Data Science & AI at Manchester Environmental Research Institute (MERI) and Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Data Science & Environmental Analytics at The University of Manchester, said: “Research on urban heat has traditionally focused on buildings, materials and land surfaces. However, the direct heat produced by vehicles – from engines, exhausts and braking – has received far less attention in large-scale climate models.

“Our model will allow scientists to simulate how heat released by vehicles interacts with streets, buildings and the surrounding atmosphere.”

In Manchester, the results showed that traffic heat increased simulated air temperatures by around 0.16°C during summer and 0.35°C in winter. The scientists say that while these temperature increases may appear small, they can make a meaningful difference during extreme heat events.

During the July 2022 UK heatwave, the model suggests that traffic-related heat contributed to increases in human heat stress indicators, pushing the “feels like” temperature above dangerous thresholds for longer periods.

The study also found that traffic heat does not just affect outdoor temperatures, but indoor temperatures too. Heat released at street level can transfer into buildings, increasing the need for air conditioning in summer.

Unlike previous approaches, the new model can also simulate different types of vehicles – including petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric vehicles – and can respond to changes in traffic patterns and weather conditions.

This means scientists and stakeholders can explore how shifts in transport systems, such as the move toward electric vehicles, could change how much heat traffic adds to urban environments.

The work could help cities better understand how transport policy and the transition to cleaner vehicles may influence future climate resilience.

Yuan Sun, first author of this paper and PhD researcher from The University of Manchester, added: “We would like to highlight the importance of considering transport systems when planning for climate adaptation, urban cooling strategies and net-zero transitions.”

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Journal

Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems

DOI

10.1029/2025MS005435 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Modeling urban traffic heat flux in the Community Earth System Model: Formulation and validation for two test sites

Article Publication Date

8-Apr-2026

 

Human changes in land-cover increase global landslide fatalities in mountains considerably

Land-cover changes appear more often in lower income countries, exacerbating the vulnerability of socioeconomically disadvantaged people

University of Vienna

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The Hisarcandır landslide triggered by an extreme rainfall event on January 24, 2019, in the Taurus Mountains of Antalya, Türkiye.

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Credit: Tolga Görüm

Despite the common perception of landslides to be naturally controlled, a new study reveals that most fatal landslides occur in human-transformed environments. Conducted by an international team of researchers from the University of Vienna, Ankara University, Istanbul Technical University, Bursa Uludag University, and the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, the study provides a global overview of how human pressure modulates landslide occurrences. The most important finding of the study is that land-use-land-cover change has a substantially greater influence on landslide fatalities than physical factors such as topography and precipitation, especially in low- and lower-middle-income nations. The study is published in the prestigious journal Science Advances.

Landslides are among the most destructive hazards, typically killing over 4,500 people and causing $20 billion in damage annually. The starting point for this research was a critical global question: why are landslides deadlier in certain regions than others with comparable terrain and climate? As populations exposed to hazards in mountain areas have doubled since 1975, it's important to understand that human alterations to the land surface—such as clear-cutting, agricultural transition, and road construction—are drastically destabilising hillslopes. This study highlights how increasing human made pressure on nature exacerbates the vulnerability of socioeconomically disadvantaged people. 

Quantifying human made changes in the context of landslides 

The researchers focused on mountainous landmasses across 46 countries, categorised by national income levels. They addressed a massive dataset comprising approximately 60 years of land-use-land-cover changes and 45 years of population dynamics. The team introduced a new metric, the total land-use-land-cover change, to quantify overall human alterations, integrating this with topography, precipitation, and exposure models.

The findings are striking: while high-income nations altered only 7% of their mountainscapes, low-income countries changed 50% of the mountain land covers of their countries. Such changes can be deforestation, and expansion of farmlands and infrastructure. 

Land-use-land-cover change correlates with fatal landslides 

The current study finds: "In countries like Haiti, Sri Lanka, and El Salvador, this land-use-land-cover change correlates with a surge in fatal landslides and death tolls. However, this correlation weakens in wealthy nations such as Switzerland, Japan, and Italy, which experience fewer fatalities despite landslide prone topography and climates", explains one of the authors Ugur Öztürk from the University of Vienna. The lead author, Seckin Fidan from Ankara University, adds that "Economically disadvantaged countries often face also substantial population pressures unlike wealthier nations. These pressures lead to the rapid clearing of fragile mountainous areas for farming, informal housing, and basic infrastructure needs."

Land-use-land-cover change emerges as a critical driver of mortality, alongside national wealth. Countries that manage to maintain low land-cover change experience fewer landslide fatalities despite being highly prone to the hazard. The authors of the study thus clearly demonstrate that minimal human intervention in land use in mountainous regions reduces the risk of fatal landslides.

Summary:

• The researchers wanted to determine why fatal landslides are distributed unevenly across nations with similar physical hazard potentials.
• They found that land-use-land-cover change influences landslide fatalities substantially more than natural topography or precipitation, particularly in lower-income countries.
• Anthropogenic changes in mountainscapes (e.g., deforestation, infrastructure expansion) act as a disaster multiplier, amplifying the vulnerability of the world's poor.
• Effective and sustainable land-use planning is a critical, life-saving necessity for disaster risk reduction in low and lower-middle-income countries.

About the University of Vienna: 

At the University of Vienna, curiosity has been the core principle of academic life for more than 650 years. For over 650 years the University of Vienna has stood for education, research and innovation. Today, it is ranked among the top 100 and thus the top four per cent of all universities worldwide and is globally connected. With degree programmes covering over 180 disciplines, and more than 10,000 employees we are one of the largest academic institutions in Europe. Here, people from a broad spectrum of disciplines come together to carry out research at the highest level and develop solutions for current and future challenges. Its students and graduates develop reflected and sustainable solutions to complex challenges using innovative spirit and curiosity.

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.aec2739 

Article Title

Wealth and land cover change govern landslide fatalities on world's mountains

Article Publication Date

8-Apr-2026

 

Sinking land drives coastal flood risk on densely populated Java Island

Virginia Tech

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Manoochehr Shirzaei

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Credit: Courtesy of Virginia Tech

A new study published in Science Advances reveals that sinking land — not just rising oceans alone — will be the main cause of future coastal flooding along Indonesia’s densely populated Java Island, putting millions at risk sooner than expected.

“We often frame sea-level rise hazards as a climate-driven process, but in many of the world’s most vulnerable regions, human-induced sinking land is the dominant driver,” said Manoochehr Shirzaei, Virginia Tech geoscientist and co-author of the study. “If we ignore that, we are fundamentally underestimating risk.”

Using satellite radar data and advanced machine learning techniques, the research team mapped land sinking, or subsidence, across Java at unprecedented detail. The analysis uncovered subsidence rates of 1 to 15 centimeters per year across both urban and rural areas, far exceeding global sea level rise.

Key findings point to groundwater withdrawal in urban areas, agricultural water use, industrial extraction, and natural sediment compaction in delta regions as the major culprits. 

By integrating satellite observations with sea level projections, the researchers demonstrated that:

• Land subsidence will account for up to 85 percent of relative sea level rise along much of Java’s coastline by 2050.
• More than 75 percent of the coastline will be dominated by subsidence-driven flooding risk over the next 25 years.

To overcome the lack of ground-based monitoring in many regions, the researchers developed an approach that uses satellite data to create virtual tide gauges every 5 kilometers along the coastline.

While global climate change is raising ocean levels, the study highlights that human activities on the local level — especially groundwater extraction — are accelerating land subsidence, amplifying flood risk.

Although focused on Java, the findings have global implications.

“Many coastal regions around the world are facing similar, but often unseen, dynamics,” said lead author Leonard Ohenhen, a former Virginia Tech graduate student now at the University of California, Irvine. “What we see in Java is likely a preview of what could unfold elsewhere if subsidence is not properly monitored and managed.”

The researchers emphasized that effective climate adaptation must go beyond managing ocean rise to include active monitoring and mitigation of land subsidence.

“Subsidence is one of the most actionable components of coastal risk,” Shirzaei said. “Unlike global sea level rise, which requires global solutions, subsidence can often be managed locally through policy, infrastructure, and sustainable resource use. That makes it a critical lever for building resilience.”
 

Orginal study: DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aec0172

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.aec0172