Bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in a marine food web from Liaodong Bay, North China

The concentrations of 21 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) congeners were analyzed in organisms within a marine food web collected from the Liaodong Bay, North China. The total concentrations of PBDEs in all samples ranged from 0.87 to 91.4 ng g−1 lipid weight (lw). BDE-47 was the predominant congener and had a concentration ranging from 0.30 to 36.1 ng g−1 lw. The trophic magnification factors (TMF) of the PBDEs were calculated using the trophic levels obtained from the stable nitrogen isotope ratios. The TMF value of ∑PBDEs was 3.50 for the entire food web and 2.21 for the food web excluding seabirds. Four concentration ratios, BDE-99/BDE-100, BDE-99/BDE-47, BDE-153/BDE-154 and BDE-183/BDE-154, decreased linearly with the increase of the trophic levels in the invertebrates and the fishes (p < 0.01). The results suggested that the PBDEs were steadily metabolized in the trophic transfer process along the food chain.