Is Arenicola marina a suitable test organism to evaluate the bioaccumulation potential of Hg, PAHs and PCBs from dredged sediments?

Abstract:

:This paper presents the results of investigations on the suitability of lugworms (Arenicola marina) to study the bioaccumulation potential of Hg, PCB and PAH compounds from dredged sediments upon laboratory exposure. The results of tissue concentrations for several sediments from Spanish ports showed that it is possible to identify increased levels of contaminants in lugworms just after 10 days of exposure although different bioaccumulation trends were shown amongst compounds and sediments. Total and organic Hg compounds were accumulated following a non-linear trend, with a sharp increase of tissue concentrations in lugworms exposed to levels of contamination associated to a significant increase in mortality. Interestingly organic Hg compounds accounted for an average of 40% of the total Hg in lugworms exposed to sediments presenting sublethal concentrations while, when exposed to sediments presenting lethal concentrations, organic Hg compounds only accounted for 4% of the total Hg accumulated in lugworms. While lugworms seem to readily accumulate Hg and PCB compounds, with some variability explained by the organic matter content in sediments or other factor for which it accounts for, the results for PAHs suggest a more complex process of bioaccumulation as no relationship was observed between the measured concentrations in sediments and in lugworms, not even after correcting the results for this factor. Besides, the differences in the calculated BSAFs for each compound and for each sediment supported the use of bioassays for evaluating the bioaccumulation potential of sediment-bound contaminants as part of the assessment framework required in pre-dredging investigations, as they still offer unique information about the bioavailability of sediment-bound contaminants.

journal_name

Chemosphere

journal_title

Chemosphere

authors

Casado-Martínez MC,Branco V,Vale C,Ferreira AM,Delvalls TA

doi

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2007.08.040

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2008-02-01 00:00:00

pages

1756-65

issue

10

eissn

0045-6535

issn

1879-1298

pii

S0045-6535(07)01065-X

journal_volume

70

pub_type

杂志文章