Concentration, distribution and biomagnification of novel brominated flame retardant in grassland food chain and sheep from Inner Mongolia, China

Novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) are of great concern in the past few years due to their ubiquitousness in the environment and potential bioconcentration characteristics. This study takes Xilingol grassland in Inner Mongolia as the research area to analyze the pollution characteristics of NBFRs (pTBX, HBB, PBT, PBBz and PBEB) in grassland food chain. pTBX was more likely to be biomagnified in the food chain of amphibians, reptiles and birds, while PBT and HBB were more likely to be biomagnified in the food chain of mammals. This may be because these animals have the different diet and metabolic patterns. According to the concentration distribution of NBFRs in sheep organs and tissues, PBT, HBB and PBBz were easy to be bioaccumulated in sheep. The biomagnification effect of sheep adipose tissue and internal organs on NBFRs was inconsistent, so the biomagnification of chemicals in organisms cannot be determined only by the biomagnification of adipose tissue.