Trophodynamic analysis of polychlorinated biphenyl congeners and other chlorinated hydrocarbons in the Lake Ontario ecosystem

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1988 · Environmental Science and Technology; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/es00169a005· OSTI ID:5182065

Oliver, B G; Niimi, A J ^[1]

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1. National Water Research Institute, Burlington, Ontario (Canada)

The bioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and some other chlorinated organics in the Lake Ontario ecosystem has been studied. In addition to the classical biomagnification of PCBs and some of the other organics, the chlorine content of the PCBs was observed to increase with trophic level. Most of the differential PCB fractionation seemed to occur at the lower end of the food chain (water to plankton to mysid). At the higher trophic levels (mysid to smelt to salmonid), the PCBs seemed to be distributed as a uniform composition mixture. The bioaccumulation factor of these hydrophobic organics increased linearly with octanol-water partition coefficient of the chemicals at all trophic levels. The environmental bioaccumulation of these chemicals in salmonids was higher than that predicted from bioconcentration from water alone, showing that contaminated food is a major source of these chemical residues in fish.

• OSTI ID: 5182065
• Journal Information: Environmental Science and Technology; (USA), Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology; (USA) Vol. 22:5; ISSN ESTHA; ISSN 0013-936X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
AROMATICS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
CHLORINE
CONTAMINATION
DATA
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FISHES
FOOD CHAINS
FRACTIONATION
GREAT LAKES
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HALOGENS
INFORMATION
LAKE ONTARIO
LAKES
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SURFACE WATERS
VERTEBRATES
WATER POLLUTION