TA7 Bioaccumulation and Kinetics of POPs
201 Oregon Ballroom
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Tuesday
() Bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of POPs in the lower foodweb of the Western Arctic Ocean.
Hickie, B1, Bentzen, E1, Stern, G2, Helm, P2, Macdonald, R3, McLaughlin, F3, 1 Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada2 Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada3 Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada
ABSTRACT- From October 1997 to September 1998, a research vessel (CCGS des Groselliers) was frozen into the permanent pack ice of the Canadian and Makarov Basins of the Western Arctic Ocean as part of the SHEBA (Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic) project. This provided a unique opportunity to examine the fate and bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the lower trophic levels of the Arctic marine food web. POPs were sampled over an eight month period in bulk sea water, net plankton and 14 species spanning four trophic levels including: ice algae (Melosira arctica ), pelagic copepods (Calanus hyperboreus, Euchaeta glacialis), jellyfish (Cyanea sp.), predatory arrow worms (Sagitta sp.) predatory amphipods (Themisto abyssorum, Themisto libellula), and the scavenger amphipod (Eurythenes gryllus). Quantified POPs included PCB congeners, DDTs, chlordanes, HCHs and chlorobenzenes. Seasonal variations in POPs concentrations were examined in relation to trophic level determined using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios and in relation to changes in lipid content. Principal component analyses were used to examine shifts in contaminant profiles between species and over time. The data were also used to calculate bioaccumulation factors to test the hypothesis that bioaccumulation of POPs in lower trophic levels is driven primarily by equilibrium partitioning rather than by dietary uptake.
Key words: bioaccumulation, POPs, foodweb, trophic transfer