Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in marine food webs from Bohai Sea, China

Yonghu Liu; Song Cui; Yue Ma; Qian Jiang; Xuewei Zhao; Qian Cheng; Lina Guo; Hongliang Jia; Li Lin

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145036

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in marine food webs from Bohai Sea, China

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 10:772:145036. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145036. Epub 2021 Feb 3.

Authors

Yonghu Liu¹, Song Cui², Yue Ma³, Qian Jiang⁴, Xuewei Zhao³, Qian Cheng³, Lina Guo³, Hongliang Jia⁵, Li Lin⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University Wuhan, Hubei, China; Dalian Modern Marine Ranching Research Institute, Dalian, Liaoning, China; College of Marine Technology and Environment, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, Liaoning, China.
² International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), School of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. Electronic address: cuisong-bq@neau.edu.cn.
³ Dalian Modern Marine Ranching Research Institute, Dalian, Liaoning, China.
⁴ National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian, Liaoning, China.
⁵ IJRC-PTS, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, Liaoning, China.
⁶ College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University Wuhan, Hubei, China; College of Animal Sciences and Technology, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Electronic address: linli@mail.hzau.edu.cn.

PMID: 33578148
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145036

Abstract

In this study, brominated flame retardants (BFRs), including 13 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and 17 novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) are determined in 18 species (including plankton, invertebrate, and fish) from Bohai Sea, China. Trophic transfer of these compounds is also assessed in the marine food web. Significant trophic magnification (p < 0.01) for 11 PBDE congeners (BDE-17, BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-49, BDE-66, BDE-85, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, BDE154 and BDE-183) is observed. No significant correlation is observed for BDE-138 (p = 0.06), and significant trophic dilution is observed for BDE-209 (p < 0.0001). In PBDEs, BDE-66 has the highest TMF value of 3.9 (95% confidence interval (CI): 3.2-4.7), followed by BDE-47 (TMF: 3.8, 95% CI: 2.6-5.4) and BDE-28 (3.0, 2.2-4.1). For NBFRs, ATE, TBECH (include α- and β-isomer), PBBZ, TBCO (include α- and β-isomer), PBT, DPTE, HBBZ, PBBA, BTBPE, PBEB and HCDBCO are observed significant trophic magnification (p < 0.01), significant trophic dilution is observed for BATE (p < 0.01), DBDPE (p < 0.001) and OBIND (p < 0.0001), no significant correlation is observed for p-TBX (p = 0.77). In NBFRs, PBT has the highest TMF value of 4.5 (95% CI: 3.1-6.3), followed by PBEB (TMF: 4.0, 95% CI: 2.1-7.6) and HCDBCO (3.9, 3.1-5.0). Regression analysis between K_OW and TMF values of BFRs suggest that TMF values have a trend of first rising and then falling against the values of log K_OW. Generally, chemicals with higher K_OW value have stronger trophic magnification capacity than those with lower ones, but due to the influence of bioavailability, the trophic magnification ability of the superhydrophobic compounds may be inhibited. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of trophic transfer of NBFRs in marine food web and trophic transfer of 9 NBFRs (α-TBECH, p-TBX, BATE, PBBZ, α-TBCO, β-TBCO, DPTE, OBIND, and HCDBCO) in aquatic food web.

Keywords: Marine food web; Novel brominated flame retardants; Polybrominated diphenyl ethers; Trophic magnification factor; Trophic transfer.

MeSH terms

Animals
China
Environmental Monitoring
Fishes
Flame Retardants* / analysis
Food Chain
Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / analysis
Hydrocarbons, Brominated* / analysis

Substances

Flame Retardants
Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
Hydrocarbons, Brominated