title: Trophic magnification of poly- and perfluorinated compounds in a subtropical food web.
abstract: Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are known to biomagnify in temperate and Arctic food webs, but little is known about their behavior in subtropical systems. The environmental distribution and biomagnification of PFCs, extractable organic fluorine (EOF), and total fluorine were investigated in a subtropical food web. Surface water, sediment, phytoplankton, zooplankton, gastropods, worms, shrimps, fishes, and waterbirds collected in the Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve in Hong Kong were analyzed. Trophic magnification was observed for perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), perfluorodecanoate (PFDA), perfluoroundecanoate (PFUnDA), and perfluorododecanoate (PFDoDA) in this food web. Risk assessment results for PFOS, PFDA, and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) suggest that current PFC concentrations in waterbird livers are unlikely to pose adverse biological effects to waterbirds. All hazard ratio (HR) values reported for PFOS and PFOA are less than one, which suggests that the detected levels will not cause any immediate health effects to the Hong Kong population through the consumption of shrimps and fishes. However, only 10-12% of the EOF in the shrimp samples was comprised of known PFCs, indicating the need for further investigation to identify unknown fluorinated compounds in wildlife.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Eva I H
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Loi
authors.forename: Leo W Y
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Sachi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taniyasu
authors.forename: Paul K S
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Kurunthachalam
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kannan
authors.forename: Nobuyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamashita
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000378:metabolism; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D002980:Climate; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism; D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D020387:Food Chain; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry; D006723:Hong Kong; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000737:chemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D010933:Plankton / Q000737:chemistry; D011786:Quality Control; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D005466:Fluorocarbons; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes