Evaluating the trophic transfer of cadmium, polonium, and methylmercury in an estuarine food chain.

We examined the transfer of Cd, methylmercury (MeHg), and Po in an estuarine food chain (from phytoplankton to zooplankton [Daphnia pulex] to killifish [Fundulus heteroclitus] and, finally, to juvenile striped bass [Morone saxatilis]) to better understand both the extent to which these elements may biomagnify and the underlying mechanisms governing this biomagnification. Among the phytoplankton examined (Cyclotella meneghiniana and Chlamdomonas reinhardtii), metal uptake was rapid, and volume concentration factors for all metals reached values between 10(4) and 10(5). The resulting assimilation efficiencies (AEs) of ingested metals in all animals were highest for MeHg, with values greater than 76%. The AEs of Cd were 21 to 33% in D. pulex, 1 to 16% in F. heteroclitus, and 38 to 56% in M. saxatilis. Polonium AEs were 69 to 87% in D. pulex, 25 to 41% in F. heteroclitus, and 9 to 21% in M. saxatilis. Loss rate constants (ke) of metals in D. pulex ranged from 0.04/d for MeHg to 0.39/d for Po; metal ke values for F. heteroclitus ranged from 0.01 to 0.02/d. Using a kinetic model, we showed that the trophic transfer factor, defined as the ratio of metal concentration in predatory animals to metal concentration in prey organisms, was greater than unity for all three metals in D. pulex feeding on phytoplankton, suggesting that these metals may be biomagnified at this trophic step. In killifish feeding on D. pulex, the trophic transfer factor was consistently greater than one for MeHg, consistently less than one for Cd, and from 0.1 to 1.4 for Po, suggesting that both MeHg and Po have the potential to biomagnify at this trophic step.