Food web bioaccumulation of organohalogenated compounds in high mountain lakes

Abstract

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic substances that are usually produced for use in agricultural, industrial, and domestic applications. Because of their long-range atmospheric transport capacity, POPs are distributed worldwide. The global distillation theory predicts that there will be a temperature-dependent partitioning of these low volatility compounds in the environment. Concentration patterns of POPs in agreement with the theory have been observed for different environmental compartments, such as lake sediments and mosses, and along altitudinal and latitudinal gradients. However, concentration patterns in lake fish do not exactly match the expected results, indicating that further investigation into the bioaccumulation processes in food webs is required. Here, we briefly review the state of the question of POPs bioaccumulation in high mountain lake food webs and present some hypotheses concerning processes worthy of investigation.