Biomagnification of trace elements in a benthic food web: the case study of Deer Island (Northern Yellow Sea)

In this study, we investigated the concentrations of ten trace elements (Cu, Zn, Mn, Se, Ni, Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, and As) and their trophodynamics in a benthic food chain of Deer Island, Northern Yellow Sea. The concentrations of Cu, Zn, Mn, Se, Ni, Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, and As in the food chain ranged from 3.2 to 23.2, from 71 to 227, from 7.4 to 45.6, from 0.44 to 5.80, from 0.73 to 7.60, from 0.14 to 1.65, from 0.68 to 6.70, from 0.08 to 1.86, from 0.08 to 1.18, and from 0.24 to 3.92 mg kg−1 dry weight, respectively. Among these trace elements, the linear regression between the log-transformed concentrations of Hg and Cd and δ15N values showed statistically significant increase (p<0.05) with the slopes of 0.134 and 0.144, indicating biomagnification of Hg and Cd occurred in the benthic food chain of Deer Island. While the linear regression for other eight trace elements (Cu, Zn, Mn, Se, Ni, Cr, Pb and As) were characterised by extensive scatter with non-significant correlation coefficients (R 2=0.002–0.235) and slopes (p=0.079–0.875), indicating there were not biomagnified or biodiluted of these trace elements. Keywords: trace elementstable isotopebiomagnificationfood chainNorthern Yellow Sea Acknowledgements We thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this work. This project was supported by the earmarked fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (CARS-48) and the State Oceanic Administration of China (200905020).