TROPHODYNAMICS OF POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHERS AND METHOXYLATED POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHERS IN A MARINE FOOD WEB

The current study measured the concentrations of 14 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and eight methoxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (MeO PBDEs) in a marine food web and estimated their trophic magnification factors (TMFs) to highlight the differences between invertebrates fish and seabirds Concentrations of PBDEs were orders of magnitude greater in seabirds (184 07 +/- 161 63 ng/g lipid wt) compared with invertebrates and fish (19 01 +/- 14 14 ng/g lipid wt) Although the congener profiles in invertebrates fish and juvenile seabirds were dominated by BDE 47 the contributions of BDE 99 and BDE 153 in adult seabirds were also significant Unlike PBDEs however higher average MeO PBDE concentrations were detected in fish (126 27 +/- 189 27 ng/g lipid wt) and bivalves (15 96 +/- 11 82 ng/g lipid wt) than in seabirds (2 61 +/- 2 87 ng/g lipid wt) Correlations between lipid normalized PBDE concentrations and trophic levels confirmed that seven PBDE congeners were magnified in the invertebrate fish seabird food web and that PBDE concentrations increased at a much greater rate across trophic levels in seabirds than in invertebrates and fish This result indicates that estimating TMFs of PBDEs separately for seabirds invertebrates and fish is preferable For MeO PBDEs no significant relationships were obtained in the invertebrate fish seabird food web Environ Toxicol Chem 2010 29 2792-2799 (C) 2010 SETAC