LAUSR

Samples of Asota caricae (larvae, pupae, and adults) and its host plant leaf (Ficus hispida), larvae of Aloa lactinea, and mixed adult moths were collected from an electronic waste (e‐waste) recycling site in south China. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers were found to exhibit concentrations of 420–1300, 100–860, and 7.6–49 ng/g dry weight, respectively. The different chemical compositions among the samples of the three groups indicated that at least two exposure scenarios occurred among the moths in the study area. A complex relationship between bioamplification factors and the octanol–water partition coefficient (log KOW) was observed during metamorphosis, in which a positive relationship was evident for 5 < log KOW < 7, whereas an inverse relationship occurred for log KOW values outside of this range. The biomagnification factors (BMFs) calculated from the larvae of Asota caricae to the host plant were negatively correlated with log KOW for all chemicals, differing completely from those obtained in previous studies. However, after metamorphosis, the correlation between BMF and log KOW was found to coincide with that in previous studies. These results indicate that the biotransformation of pollutants in organisms played a key role in determining whether or not biomagnification occurred in organisms and highlight the potential application of the metabolic rate of chemicals in screening‐level risk assessments of new chemicals. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2395–2403. © 2022 SETAC