Environ. Sci. Technol. 2006, 40, 4138-4144
Biomagnification of Perfluoroalkyl Compounds in the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Food Web M A G A L I H O U D E , †,‡ T R E V O R A . D . B U J A S , ‡ JEFF SMALL,‡ RANDALL S. WELLS,§ PATRICIA A. FAIR,| GREGORY D. BOSSART,⊥ KEITH R. SOLOMON,† AND D E R E K C . G . M U I R * ,†,‡ Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada, National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, 867 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, L7R 4A6, Ontario, Canada, Chicago Zoological Society c/o Mote Marine Laboratory, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, Florida, 34236, Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 219 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, South Carolina, 29412-9110, and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, 5600 U.S. 1 North, Ft. Pierce, Florida 34946
The environmental distribution and the biomagnification of a suite of perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs), including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and C8 to C14 perfluorinated carboxylates (PFCAs), was investigated in the food web of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Surficial seawater and sediment samples, as well as zooplankton, fish, and bottlenose dolphin tissue samples, were collected at two U.S. locations: Sarasota Bay, FL and Charleston Harbor, SC. Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents were also collected from the Charleston area (n ) 4). A solidphase extraction was used for seawater and effluent samples and an ion-pairing method was used for sediment and biotic samples. PFCs were detected in seawater (range
