Trophic food chain transfer of radiocaesium from reindeer meat to the blowfly Calliphora vicina and the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis

Abstract

The role of insects in the transfer of radionuclides has received little attention, despite their key role in nutrient cycling within ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the trophic food chain transfer of radiocaesium (137Cs) from reindeer meat to the blowfly Calliphora vicina (Robineau-Desvoidy) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and further from blowfly pupae to the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Radiocaesium was transferred to blowfly larvae during their feeding stage, with the highest whole-organism to food source concentration ratios (CRwo-fs) being found in actively feeding third instar blowfly larvae, with CRwo-fs in the range of 0.68–0.90. CRwo-fs in blowfly larvae at later developmental stages (i.e., post-feeding stage, prepupal stage, pupal stage, and adult stage) were significantly lower, with CRwo-fs in adult flies in the range of 0.07–0.10. Modelling of the data indicated that >70 % of the radiocaesium present in third instar feeding stage larvae was removed exponentially with excreta prior to pupariation. Furthermore, on average 49 % of the radiocaesium activity concentration assimilated in the metamorphing blowfly pupa was retained in the pupal case after the adult blowfly had emerged. When blowfly pupae were parasitised by parasitoid wasps, a greater proportion of radiocaesium was retained in the parasitised pupal case, with only 2–3 % of the activity concentration in the meat being found in the wasps, providing further evidence to support that radiocaesium is biodiluted in insect food chains. Our results indicate that carcass decomposition driven by insects directly affects the fate of radiocaesium retained in vertebrate carcasses and we discuss these findings in connection to radiocaesium cycling and dispersion in terrestrial ecosystems.