↓ Skip to main content

Metamorphosis Alters Contaminants and Chemical Tracers in Insects: Implications for Food Webs

Overview of attention for article published in Environmental Science & Technology, September 2014
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (85th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (78th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
1 news outlet
wikipedia
1 Wikipedia page

Citations

dimensions_citation
99 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
139 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Metamorphosis Alters Contaminants and Chemical Tracers in Insects: Implications for Food Webs
Published in
Environmental Science & Technology, September 2014
DOI 10.1021/es502970b
Pubmed ID
Authors

Johanna M. Kraus, David M. Walters, Jeff S. Wesner, Craig A. Stricker, Travis S. Schmidt, Robert E. Zuellig

Abstract

Insects are integral to most freshwater and terrestrial food webs, but due to their accumulation of environmental pollutants they are also contaminant vectors that threaten reproduction, development, and survival of consumers. Metamorphosis from larvae to adult can cause large chemical changes in insects, altering contaminant concentrations and fractionation of chemical tracers used to establish contaminant biomagnification in food webs, but no framework exists for predicting and managing these effects. We analyzed data from 39 studies of 68 analytes (stable isotopes and contaminants), and found that metamorphosis effects varied greatly. δ(15)N, widely used to estimate relative trophic position in biomagnification studies, was enriched by ∼1‰ during metamorphosis, while δ(13)C used to estimate diet, was similar in larvae and adults. Metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were predominantly lost during metamorphosis leading to ∼2 to 125-fold higher larval concentrations and higher exposure risks for predators of larvae compared to predators of adults. In contrast, manufactured organic contaminants (such as polychlorinated biphenyls) were retained and concentrated in adults, causing up to ∼3-fold higher adult concentrations and higher exposure risks to predators of adult insects. Both food web studies and contaminant management and mitigation strategies need to consider how metamorphosis affects the movement of materials between habitats and ecosystems, with special regard for aquatic-terrestrial linkages.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 139 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 4 3%
Japan 1 <1%
Belgium 1 <1%
Canada 1 <1%
Unknown 132 95%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 27 19%
Student > Master 24 17%
Researcher 23 17%
Student > Doctoral Student 13 9%
Student > Bachelor 9 6%
Other 18 13%
Unknown 25 18%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Environmental Science 51 37%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 36 26%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 4 3%
Chemistry 3 2%
Nursing and Health Professions 2 1%
Other 8 6%
Unknown 35 25%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 19 December 2020.
All research outputs
#3,418,699
of 25,394,764 outputs
Outputs from Environmental Science & Technology
#3,974
of 20,687 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#34,377
of 248,700 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Environmental Science & Technology
#56
of 263 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,394,764 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 86th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 20,687 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 17.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 248,700 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 263 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its contemporaries.