Modeling chemical bioaccumulation in snakes, part 1: Model development

Abstract

Environmental chemical emission influences ecological health to some extent. Predators (e.g., snakes) could bioaccumulate chemicals along the food chain, which also leaves potential health implications on their reproduction. For the difficulty of collecting related biomatrices for exposure assessment, part 1 of this study proposed a modeling method relying on physiologically based kinetic (PBK) theory to estimate snake chronic exposure to environmental chemicals. In the steady state, the biotransfer factors of chemicals produced by the PBK model can indicate a snake’s chronic internal exposure to environmental chemicals and their potential for bioaccumulation at this level of the food web. Specifically, 3074 organic chemicals were compelled into the dataset for PBK modeling (part 2 of the study). The modeling framework covered the physiological process of the skin to consider shed snakeskin as a potential biomarker for future study. The proposed modeling approach was integrated into a spreadsheet, enabling the modification of input values to simulate outcomes for a wide range of chemical and snake species. The proposed model can help assess the ecological risks of environmental chemicals and quantify their behavior in the food web.