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Trophic Transfer of Lead Through a Model Marine Four-Level Food Chain: Tetraselmis suecica, Artemia franciscana, Litopenaeus vannamei, and Haemulon scudderi

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Abstract

The objective of this investigation was to assess the transfer of lead (Pb) along an experimental, four-level food chain: Tetraselmis suecica (phytoplankton) → Artemia franciscana (crustacean, brine shrimp) → Litopenaeus vannamei (crustacean, white shrimp) → Haemulon scudderi (fish, grunt). T. suecica was exposed to a sublethal dose of Pb in solution and then used as the base of a marine food chain. Significant differences in Pb concentrations were found between exposed organisms of the different trophic levels and the control. Particularly, Pb concentrations in fish of the simulated trophic chain were two-to three times higher in the exposed specimens than in the control. Levels of Pb in phytoplankton showed a substantial increase with respect to the solution (level I), with bioconcentration factors averaging from 930 to 3630. In contrast, a strong decrease in Pb concentration from phytoplankton to zooplankton (level II) and from zooplankton to shrimp tissues (level III) was evidenced by bioaccumulation factors <1. Despite the decrease in the assimilation efficiency of metal transfer observed in these two predators, Pb concentration in the grunt fish (level IV) was higher than in the shrimp (level III) (bioaccumulation factor >1.0). Some of the added Pb is transferred from the phytoplankton along the food chain, thus producing a net accumulation of Pb mainly in fish and, to a lesser extent, in shrimp tissues. Because Pb is one of the most pervasive contaminants in coastal ecosystems, its transference by way of diet and potential net accumulation in higher predators is of ecologic importance for marine life. In addition, because shrimp and adult Haemulon scudderi are commercially important resources, this issue is of particular relevance to the safety of marine products.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank J. F. Ontiveros-Cuadras, A. Nuñez-Pastén, and S. Rendón-Rodríguez for help in bioassays; H. Bojórquez-Leyva for laboratory analysis; and V. Montes, C. Ramírez-Jáuregui, C. Suárez-Gutiérrez, and G. Ramírez-Reséndiz for manuscript preparation. Special thanks to personal of Mazatlán Aquarium for their support. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for the truly helpful comments. Financial support was provided by the grant SEP-CONACYT 60215, UNAM-PAPIIT IN206409, IN210609, and IN217408-3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 811, 82040, Mazatlán, Mexico

    M. F. Soto-Jiménez & F. Páez-Osuna

  2. Instituto Tecnológico de Mazatlán, 82000, Mazatlán, Mexico

    C. Arellano-Fiore & J. Ruelas-Inzunza

  3. Mazatlán Aquarium, Mazatlán, Mexico

    R. Rocha-Velarde

  4. Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, Hermosillo, Mexico

    M. E. Jara-Marini

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  1. M. F. Soto-Jiménez
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  2. C. Arellano-Fiore
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  3. R. Rocha-Velarde
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Correspondence to M. F. Soto-Jiménez.

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Soto-Jiménez, M.F., Arellano-Fiore, C., Rocha-Velarde, R. et al. Trophic Transfer of Lead Through a Model Marine Four-Level Food Chain: Tetraselmis suecica, Artemia franciscana, Litopenaeus vannamei, and Haemulon scudderi . Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 61, 280–291 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-010-9620-4

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