Field study estimates of biomagnification factors at Rocky Mountain Arsenal for Superfund ecological risk assessment

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:33555

Henningsen, G ^[1]

---

1. Environmental Protection Agency, Denver, CO (United States)

Terrestrial wildlife at Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) are exposed to bioaccumulative contaminants in soil. The exposure assessment and risk characterization require estimates of biomagnification factors (BMFS) in a food-web model to predict intake and toxicity risks to predatory birds of concern. Estimated BMFs derived from existing field data have excessive uncertainty (EPA`s opinion), due to patchy distribution and highly variable amounts of contamination, diverse wildlife sampling in areas with relatively low contamination, and reporting limits (CRLS) exceeding risk levels of concern. Positive findings in biota were typically too infrequent to make meaningful estimates of contamination distributions or of BMFS. For aldrin/dieldrin, the frequency of positive findings in biota and soil was higher, but lack of co-located samples made those field estimates of BMF to unreliable. Hence, EPA believes either the risk assessment for all contaminants of concern should use literature-derived biomagnification data by default and/or RMA should conduct additional studies specifically designed to determine site-specific BMFS. Presently, literature on bioaccumulation and biomagnification conflicts with site estimates of BMFS. Additional field sampling has therefore been designed to focus on biomagnification and is expected to yield improved estimates of both BMF and potential risks at RMA. Designs of the new supplemental field studies will be described and preliminary results presented.

• OSTI ID: 33555
• Report Number(s): CONF-9410273--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
COLORADO
CONTAMINATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FOOD CHAINS
LAND POLLUTION
MILITARY FACILITIES
REMEDIAL ACTION
RISK ASSESSMENT
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
TOXIC MATERIALS
US SUPERFUND