title: Aquatic bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of tetrabromobisphenol-A flame retardant introduced from a typical e-waste recycling site.
abstract: While the flame retardant chemical, tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A), has been frequently detected in the environment, knowledge regarding its species-specific bioaccumulation and trophic transfer is limited, especially in the highly contaminated sites. In this study, the components of an aquatic food web, including two invertebrates, two prey fish, and one predator fish, collected from a natural pond at an electronic waste (e-waste) recycling site in South China were analyzed for TBBP-A, using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The aquatic species had TBBP-A concentrations ranging from 350 to 1970 pg/g wet weight, with higher concentrations in the invertebrates relative to the fish species. Field-determined bioaccumulation factors of TBBP-A in the two aquatic invertebrates were nearly or greater than 5000, suggesting that TBBP-A is highly bioaccumulative in the two species. The lipid-normalized concentrations of TBBP-A in the aquatic species were negatively correlated with the trophic levels determined from stable nitrogen isotope (δ(15)N) (r = -0.82, p = 0.09), indicating that this compound experienced trophic dilution in the current food web.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Resources Utilization and Protection, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Resources Utilization and Protection, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China. jpwu@gig.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jiang-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.affiliation: The Pearl River Water Environment Monitoring Center, Guangzhou, 510611, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Resources Utilization and Protection, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
authors.forename: Zi-He
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Resources Utilization and Protection, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Resources Utilization and Protection, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
authors.forename: Bi-Xian
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Mai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002347:Carps / Q000378:metabolism; D059029:Electronic Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis*; D020387:Food Chain; D007448:Invertebrates; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D059027:Recycling; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D005411:Flame Retardants; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C020806:tetrabromobisphenol A
keywords: Aquatic food web; Brominated flame retardants; Electronic waste; Tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A); Trophic transfer