210Pb as a dietary indicator in the Antarctic pelagic community

The naturally occurring radionuclide ²¹⁰Po is useful as a tracer of diets of marine organisms. Data for ²¹⁰Pb, the grandparent of ²¹⁰Po, are less abundant: we therefore report here ²¹⁰Pb concentrations in a substantial collection of marine biota obtained from the Antarctic Ocean during the SIBEX II cruise in 1985. The general levels of ²¹⁰Pb are within the range of previously published data but, as in the case of ²¹⁰Po, there are differences which can be associated with variations in the diet of the organism. The levels of ²¹⁰Pb in the krill Euphausia superba show seasonal changes which can be interpreted in terms of changing diet. In a simple classification of the pelagic food chain, the levels of ²¹⁰Pb tend to increase from omnivores to filter-feeders to predators.