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Butyltins biomagnification from macroalgae to green sea urchin: a field assessment
Author(s) -
Mamelona Jean,
Pelletier Émilien
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
applied organometallic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1099-0739
pISSN - 0268-2605
DOI - 10.1002/aoc.521
Subject(s) - biomagnification , strongylocentrotus droebachiensis , bioconcentration , seawater , algae , bioaccumulation , sea urchin , dry weight , environmental chemistry , chemistry , biology , botany , ecology
Biomagnification of butyltins (BTs) was examined in a simple food web including seawater, macroalgae ( Alaria esculenta, Laminaria longicruris, Ulvaria obscura ) and green urchin ( Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis ). The study was conducted in shallow waters of the St Lawrence Estuary (Canada) adjacent to two areas potentially contaminated by BTs. Levels of tri‐ (TBT), di‐ (DBT) and mono‐BT (MBT) were determined in seawater, green urchin (including faecal matter after sampling) and macroalgae surrounding the urchins at each sampling site. The concentrations of TBT in seawater from all stations were relatively low (3–7 ngSn l −1 ), and both the TBT and the total BTs (∑BT = MBT + DBT + TBT) concentrations decreased with increase in distance from the BT sources. The concentrations of TBT in algae were 0.35 ngSn g −1 dry weight (DW) in A. esculenta , 0.40 ngSn g −1 DW in L . longicruris and 3.58 ngSn g −1 DW in U. obscura. Following their location, green urchins feeding mainly on these algae accumulated BTs at levels ranging from 4 to 85 ngSn g −1 DW in gonads and from 35 to 334 ngSn g −1 DW in gut. The mean bioconcentration factor (BCF) calculated from seawater to algae ranged from 17 in A. esculenta to 151 in U. obscura , whereas the biomagnification factor (BMF) from algae to urchins ranged from 2 to 17 in gonads and from 10 to 67 in gut. The overall bioaccumulation factor of TBT between seawater and internal organs of urchins reached an average value of 1.2 × 10 3 . These results are the first to illustrate high BT BCFs and BMFs in human‐edible macroalgae and urchins sampled from northern coastal areas with a low TBT contamination level. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.