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Predicting bioaccumulation potential: A test of a fugacity-based model

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Abstract

Clams (Macoma nasuta) from an unpolluted site in Yaquina Bay, Oregon were exposed in the laboratory for 28 days to 6 field-contaminated sediments (treatments) which varied widely in concentration of 10 organic pollutants. Mean accumulation factors (AF = (concentration in tissue/lipid, %/100)/(concentration in sediment/total organic carbon, %/100)) of 8 neutral organic compounds (DDE [p,p′], 2,2′,3,5′6-pentachlorobiphenyl, 2,3′,4,4′,5-pentachlorobiphenyl, Aroclor® 1254, pyrene, chrysene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b,(k)]fluoranthene) were homogeneous across treatments. Statistically significant differences were detected between some treatment AFs for ODD [p,p′] and benz[a]anthracene, and between some chemicals within treatments (experimentwise a=0.05). Accumulation factors were less than 2 and less variable in highly polluted, organically enriched sediments (total organic carbon > 3.69 ± 0.044%), but sometimes exceeded 2 in clams exposed to surficial (0–2 cm deep) sediments with low pollutant concentration and low organic carbon content (⩽ 0.86 ±0.037%). These results suggest that the AF model may provide reasonable estimates of bioaccumulation potential of hydrophobic neutral organic compounds in organically enriched, polluted sediments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Division, Hatfield Marine Science Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 97365, Newport, Oregon, USA

    Steven P. Ferraro, Henry Lee II, Robert J. Ozretich & David T. Specht

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  1. Steven P. Ferraro
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  2. Henry Lee II
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  3. Robert J. Ozretich
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  4. David T. Specht
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Ferraro, S.P., Lee, H., Ozretich, R.J. et al. Predicting bioaccumulation potential: A test of a fugacity-based model. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 19, 386–394 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054983

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054983

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