Analyzing Biomagnification Of Metals In Different Marine Food Webs Using Nitrogen Isotopes

摘要

High metal concentrations have been reported in different marine organisms (i.e., oysters and whelks; Blackmore, 2001), which may threaten the health of organisms higher in the food chain (Fal-co et al., 2006). Many studies have been conducted to investigate the bioaccumulation of metals in different marine systems (Reinf-elder et al., 1998; Wang, 2002; Quinn et al., 2003), and generally indicated that biomagnification of metals in the marine food chains was not common. Gray (2002) concluded that methyl-mercury was the only metal which could be biomagnified, since many of the other metals were highly regulated and excreted by marine organisms. On the other hand, Wang (2002) suggested that metals such as Cd and Zn can potentially be biomagnified in marine systems, even though very few field studies showed biomagnification of metals in natural environments.