Changes in contaminant distributions with trophic level in a marine food chain study
- Environmental Protection Agency, Narragansett, RI (United States)
- Science Applications International Corp., Narragansett, RI (United States)
A laboratory study was designed to investigate the transfer of chlorinated organic contaminants from sediments to marine biota in a simplified marine food chain. Sediments collected from the Passaic River, NJ, which contained high concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), PCBs and chlorinated pesticides, were used as the contamination source. Polychaete worms (Nereis virens) were exposed to Passaic River sediment for 70 days to allow steady-state concentrations to be achieved and then these organisms were fed to a crustacean, the American lobster (Homarus americanus). Contaminant distributions were altered significantly as they passed from sediments to polychaetes and then to the lobster. PCDDs and PCDFs containing four or five chlorines were accumulated by the polychaetes and lobster; however, the highly chlorinated congeners were not accumulated. PCB patterns in lobsters indicated that these organisms metabolized many PCB congeners. Coplanar PCBs did not appear to be metabolized and therefore became enriched relative to total PCB levels in the lobsters. Lobsters also greatly altered the ratios of chlordane and DDT series compounds relative to those in the sediments and polychaetes.
- OSTI ID:
- 42908
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9410273-; TRN: IM9521%%72
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 15. annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), Denver, CO (United States), 30 Oct - 3 Nov 1994; Other Information: PBD: 1994; Related Information: Is Part Of Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 15th annual meeting: Abstract book. Ecological risk: Science, policy, law, and perception; PB: 286 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
The biomagnification of PCBs, PCDDs, and PCDFs in a simplified laboratory food chain
Accumulation of polychlorinated organic contaminants from sediment by three benthic marine species