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Abstract Presented in this study is a new method to quantitatively estimate in situ biomagnification of organic contaminants that uses ratios of naturally occurring stable isotopes of nitrogen to classify trophic levels of organisms from one littoral and one pelagic food chain in the northern Baltic proper. Results indicated a biomagnification of the three most toxic 2378-substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and -dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), whereas the total concentration of 2378- substituted PCDD/Fs, and particularly octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and -dibenzofuran (OCDD/F), decreased with increasing trophic level in the food chains. A calculated flux estimate of PCDD/Fs in juvenile eider ducks was supported by results from the biomagnification study; that is, the most toxic 2378-substituted isomers tended to accumulate in the tissue of the eider duck. Out of the total PCDD/Fs consumed by the eider ducks, only 10% were recovered in the body and approximately 10% were recovered in feces, whereas 80% were not recovered, that is, were excreted or remained as unidentified metabolites. Of the most toxic 2378-substituted isomers, 57% were recovered in the tissue, 30% were recovered in the feces, and only 13% were not recovered (i.e., metabolized and/or excreted).
Broman et al. (Sun,) studied this question.