Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the food web of a high mountain lake, Pyrenees, Catalonia, Spain

Abstract

We investigated the contents of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the food web organisms included in the diet of brown trout from a remote mountain lake. The preferential habitat and trophic level of the component species have been assessed from the signature of stable isotopes (delta13C and delta15N). Subsequently, the patterns of accumulation and transformation of these hydrocarbons in the food chain have been elucidated. Most of the food web organisms exhibit PAH distributions largely dominated by phenanthrene, which agrees with its predominance in atmospheric deposition, water, and suspended particles. Total PAH levels are higher in the organisms from the littoral habitat than from the deep sediments or the pelagic water column. However, organisms from deep sediments exhibit higher proportions of higher molecular weight PAH than those in other lake areas. Distinct organisms exhibit specific features in their relative PAH composition that point to different capacities for uptake and metabolic degradation. Brown trout show an elevated capacity for metabolic degradation because they have lower PAH concentrations than food and they are enriched strongly in lower molecular weight compounds. The PAH levels in trout highly depend on organisms living in the littoral areas. Fish exposure to PAH, therefore, may vary from lake to lake according to the relative contribution of littoral organisms to their diet.

Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dibenzothiophenes in wetland sediments and aquatic insects in the oil sands area of Northeastern Alberta, Canada

“…The chironomid, Derotanypus, is predominately a predator while the caddisfly, Phryganea, is largely herbivorous (Merritt and Cummins 1984). While PAH levels in aquatic invertebrates may be affected by certain feeding behaviours (McElroy et al 1989;Gewurtz et al 2000), they are generally not related to trophic position (Tracy and Hansen 1996;Vives et al 2005). Moreover, the relatively high PAH levels in the herbivorous Phryganea and the carnivorous Derotanypus and damselflies in this study do not support the idea that differing trophic positions could have contributed to apparent differences in PAH levels among larval insects.…”

“…A large proportion of the reduction in PAH levels from the larval to the adult stage may occur during the non-feeding pupal stage. Vives et al (2005) found that PAH concentrations in chironomid pupae were only about 30% of those in chironomid larvae. However, damselflies do not have a pupal stage.…”

Characterization of phase-II conjugation reaction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fish species: Unique pyrene metabolism and species specificity observed in fish species

“…Pyrene was chosen as a model compound for PAHs because it is one of the most abundant PAHs in the environment (Vives et al, 2005). Moreover, several studies on biotransformation have already used pyrene as a model substance (Luthe et al, 2002;Akkanen and Kukkonen, 2003;Stroomberg et al, 2004;Ikenaka et al, 2006Ikenaka et al, , 2007Ueda et al, 2011).…”

Up-regulation of hepatic ABCC2, ABCG2, CYP1A1 and GST in multixenobiotic-resistant killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) from the Sydney Tar Ponds, Nova Scotia, Canada

“…The gut is the major intake route for hydrophobic PAHs in fish (Vives et al, 2005) and ingestion of benthic matter is therefore likely the main uptake source of hydrophobic contaminants for killifish. Previously, it was shown that freshly caught killifish from New Bedford Harbour, a PCB-contaminated site in Massachusetts (USA), had elevated intestinal P-glycoprotein expression and depressed hepatic P-glycoprotein expression (Bard et al, 2002a) compared to a reference site.…”