Expansion of the Conceptual Model for the Accumulation of Selenium in Lentic Food Chains to Include Redox‐Controlled Generation and Diffusion of Selenite and Dissolved Organo‐Selenium Compounds

The controls governing the availability of reduced selenium (Se) species, namely selenite (Se[IV]) and dissolved organo‐Se (DOSe), to primary producers at the sediment–water interface in depositional environments (i.e., lentic systems) were assessed through consideration of theoretical principles and field data. Selenite is generated in suboxic sediment porewater via the microbially mediated reduction of selenate (Se[IV]) and/or reductive dissolution of Se‐bearing iron oxides. Field data for lentic environments demonstrate that the production of DOSe in sediment porewaters can also be redox‐ and depth‐dependent. In this manner, the remobilization depths of Se(IV) and DOSe in depositional environments are dependent on the vertical redox gradient (dEh/dz), where deeper depths of remobilization are observed in less reducing sedimentary environments (lower dEh/dz). In turn, remobilization depth has a direct bearing on the concentration of dissolved Se(IV) and DOSe that may be realized at the sediment–water interface because the depth of reaction governs the diffusive path length, concentration gradient, and rate of diffusional transport toward the sediment–water interface. The principles that link sediment redox gradients, depth of remobilization, diffusive transport processes, and concentration of reduced Se species at the sediment–water interface have a direct bearing on the potential for Se uptake by primary producers in lentic food chains (e.g., phytoplankton, biofilms, bacteria). Overall, these processes complement the current conceptual “benthic detrital food chain” model that describes the accumulation of Se in lentic systems. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2859–2869. © 2022 SETAC