Hydrocarbon Bioaccumulation from contaminated sediment by a deposit feeding polychaete

Conference · Tue Jan 09 04:00:00 EST 1990 · EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union; (United States)

OSTI ID:6656363

Weston, D P ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle (United States)

This study examined the role of sediment organic carbon content in aromatic hydrocarbon bioaccumulation and assessed the importance of two routes of hydrocarbon uptake: (1) uptake of the dissolved contaminant fraction from interstitial or overlying water; and (2) uptake of the particulate contaminant fraction from ingested sediments. The lugworm, Abarenicola pacifica, was exposed to three sediments contaminated with [[sup 3]H] benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). By manipulating the organic content of these sediments it was possible to establish three treatments with similar BaP concentrations in the interstitial water, but differing in the amount of BaP in the bulk sediment. BaP bioaccumulation over the first few days of exposure was correlated with feeding rate, implicating ingested sediments as a source of implicating ingested sediments as a source of BaP. The greatest body burden, however, was attained in those individuals held in sediments with the lowest organic carbon content and the lowest BaP concentration. Body burden at steady state was not correlated with either BaP concentrations in bulk sediment (dry weight or organic normalized basis) or the interstitial water. Increased organic matter decreased BaP bioavailability in a non-linear fashion. Bioaccumulation factors relative to water and organic content were relatively constant between 1 and 2% organic carbon in the sediment, but these same accumulation factors substantially underestimated body burden if applied to sandy sediments with little (0.3%) organic carbon.

• OSTI ID: 6656363
• Report Number(s): CONF-9002174--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union; (United States) Journal Volume: 71:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
AROMATICS
BENZOPYRENE
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
BODY BURDEN
CARBON
CONDENSED AROMATICS
CONTAMINATION
ELEMENTS
FEEDING
GROUND WATER
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INTERSTITIAL WATER
MATTER
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC MATTER
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SEA BED
SEAS
SEDIMENTS
SURFACE WATERS
WATER
WEIGHT