Antibiotic Pollution in Marine Food Webs in Laizhou Bay, North China: Trophodynamics and Human Exposure Implication

Abstract

Little information is available about the bioaccumulation and biomagnification of antibiotics in marine food webs. Here we investigate the levels and trophic transfer of 9 sulfonamide (SA), 5 fluoroquinolone (FQ), and 4 macrolide (ML) antibiotics, as well as trimethoprim in nine invertebrate and ten fish species collected from a marine food web in Laizhou Bay, North China in 2014 and 2015. All the antibiotics were detected in the marine organisms, with SAs and FQs being the most abundant antibiotics. Benthic fish accumulated more SAs than invertebrates and pelagic fish, while invertebrates exhibited higher FQ levels than fish. Generally, SAs and trimethoprim biomagnified in the food web, while the FQs and MLs were biodiluted. Trophic magnification factors (TMF) were 1.2 – 3.9 for SAs and trimethoprim, 0.3 – 1.0 for FQs and MLs. Limited biotransformation and relatively high assimilation efficiencies are the likely reasons for the biomagnification of SAs. The pH dependent distribution coefficients (logD) but not the lipophilicity (logKOW) of SAs and FQs had a significant correlation (r = 0.73; p < 0.05) with their TMFs. Although the calculated estimated daily intakes (EDI) for antibiotics suggest that consumption of seafood from Laizhou Bay is not associated with significant human health risks, this study provides important insights into the guidance of risk management of antibiotics.

Concerted Efforts Are Needed to Control and Mitigate Antibiotic Pollution in Coastal Waters of China

“…Conventionally, only hydrophobic pollutants were considered to be bioaccumulative. However, it was found that some antibiotics that are not very hydrophobic, including sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones, and macrolides, can also be bio-concentrated in marine animals and sulfonamides can even be biomagnified in the food web of the Laizhou Bay [40].…”

Numerical Study of Sulfonamide Occurrence and Transport at the Near-Shore Area of Laizhou Bay

“…We used τ = 0.6 for the LBM-SWE equation and τ s = 1.01 for the LBM-AD equation. The viscosity was calculated by Equation (10). The friction coefficient C b is in the range of 0.61-22.7, which depends on the different hydrodynamic conditions.…”

“…With regard to the investigation of antibiotic occurrence and transport, many scholars focus on empirical methods. The most popular method is liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) [8][9][10]. However, most empirical methods focus on the occurrence, not the transport process, of antibiotics.…”

Spatial Variation in Mercury Bioaccumulation and Magnification in a Temperate Estuarine Food Web

“…Trophic magnification factors (TMF) have been increasingly used to quantify the biomagnification of chemicals in the environment, from legacy-type contaminants (e.g., organochlorines) to emerging chemicals of concern, such as pharmaceutical compounds (e.g., Houde et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2017;Matulik et al, 2017). TMF refers to the average rate of change in contaminant concentrations from diet-to consumer along the trophic web, which differs from classic bioaccumulation assessments based on single predator-prey relationships (Borga et al, 2012).…”