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Evaluation of PCB bioaccumulation by Lumbriculus variegatus in field-collected sediments
Citation:
BURKHARD, L., D. R. MOUNT, T. L. HIGHLAND, J. HOCKETT, T. NORBERG-KING, B. NANDITHA, H. STEVEN, M. DAVID, AND G. CAROL. Evaluation of PCB bioaccumulation by Lumbriculus variegatus in field-collected sediments . SOCIETY OF ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY JOURNAL. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL, 32(7):1495-1503, (2013).
Impact/Purpose:
To document research results
Description:
Sediment bioaccumulation tests with Lumbriculus variegatus were performed on polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) contaminated sediment samples from the Hudson, Grasse, and Fox Rivers Superfund sites with concurrent measurement of PCB concentrations in sediment interstitial water. The measured biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) were independent of concentrations in the bulk sediment and the sediment interstitial water. Theory suggests that BSAFs should increase and then, plateau with increasing concentrations when black carbon is present in the sediment samples. Field observations report the opposite behavior, i.e., BSAFs decrease with increasing concentrations of the chemical in the sediment. Sediments tested had concentration ranges, at a minimum, of one order of magnitude but in some cases, exceeded 2 orders of magnitude for individual congeners. Biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) were predicted from the measurements of the PCB congeners in the interstitial water and the predicted BSAFs were less than the measured BSAFs. The best agreement was observed for the di-chloro-congeners, about a 2 fold lower, and for the tetra-, penta-, and hexa- congeners, they were about 4-6 fold lower. In this study, the interstitial water measurements were performed with polyoxymethylene (POM), and other studies have reported a similar bias (some level of under prediction) in predicted BSAFs using POM, low density polyethylene (LDPE), and solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) with polydimethylsiloxane sorbent.