Age Dependent Model of PCB in a Lake Michigan Food Chain

摘要

An age-dependent food chain model that considers species bioenergetics and toxicant exposure through water and food was developed. It was successfully applied to PCB contamination in the Lake Michigan lake trout food chain represented by phytoplankton, Mysis, alewife, and lake trout. The model indicated that for the top predator lake trout, PCB exposure through the food chain can account for greater than 99 percent of the observed body burden. It was estimated that a creterion specifying that PCB concentrations of all ages of lake trout be at or below 5 micrograma/g (wet weight) in the edible portion would require that dissolved PCB concentrations be reduced to somewhere between 0.5 and 2.5 micrograms/l.