Occurrences and Fates
of Hydroxylated Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Marine Sediments
in Relation to Trophodynamics
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Abstract
While occurrences and origins of hydroxylated (OH-) polybrominated
diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in organisms have been reported, the fates
of these compounds in abiotic matrixes and related trophodynamics
are unclear. The present study measured concentrations of nine OH-PBDEs,
twelve methoxylated (MeO-) PBDEs, and eleven PBDEs in marine sediments
and explored the trophodynamics of OH-PBDEs in five invertebrates,
eight fish, and two species of birds from Liaodong Bay, north China.
While concentrations of PBDEs were less than the limit of quantification
in sediments, concentrations of ΣOH-PBDEs and ΣMeO-PBDEs
were 3.2–116 pg/g dry weight (dw) and 3.8–56 pg/g dw,
respectively. When the detected compounds were incubated in native
marine sediments the interconversion between 6-OH-BDE47 and 6-MeO-BDE47
was observed. This result is consistent with the similar spatial distributions
and significant correlation between the concentrations of these naturally
occurring compounds. 6-OH-BDE47 and 2′-OH-BDE68 were detected
as the two major congeners in organisms collected from Liaodong Bay,
and concentrations were 0.24 ± 0.005 ng/g lw (lipid weight) and
0.088 ± 0.006 ng/g lw, respectively. Biota-sediment accumulation
factors (BSAFs) for invertebrates of 6-OH-BDE47 and 2′-OH-BDE68
were 0.017–0.96 and 0.19–1.5 (except for short-necked
clam: 6.3), respectively. Lipid-normalized concentrations of 6-OH-BDE47
and 2′-OH-BDE68 decreased significantly with trophic level
with TMFs of 0.21 and 0.15, respectively. The fates of OH-PBDEs in
sediment together with their trophodynamics in marine food webs suggested
that OH-PBDEs are partitioned into sediment and undergo biodilution
in the marine food web