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Uptake, depuration, and toxicity of dissolved and sediment‐bound fluoranthene in the polychaete, Capitella sp. I
Author(s) -
Selck Henriette,
Palmqvist Annemette,
Forbes Valery E.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1897/02-271
Subject(s) - fluoranthene , sediment , polychaete , environmental chemistry , toxicity , biology , contamination , ecology , chemistry , paleontology , phenanthrene , organic chemistry
Deposit‐feeders may be important in facilitating the removal of organic contaminants from bulk sediment. The relationship between uptake route (water vs sediment), depuration and toxicity was investigated in the deposit‐feeding polychaete Capitella species I. Individual worms were exposed either to dissolved (i.e., <0.45 μm) fluoranthene (FLU) (water‐only treatment [WO]), or both to dissolved and sediment‐bound FLU (porewater and sediment [PWS] treatment). The porewater concentration of dissolved FLU in PWS was set approximately equal to the dissolved concentration in WO (0, 50 μg FLU l −1 ). Fluoranthene marginally affected growth in WO worms (6 d exposure) but not in PWS worms (5 d exposure). The final body‐burdens in PWS and WO worms were 141.2 and 99.5 μg total FLU equivalents (g dry wt worm) −1 , respectively. Sediment‐bound FLU was calculated to contribute at least 30% and up to as much as 91% of the total amount taken up by PWS worms. Water‐only treatment worms retained all of the FLU during the subsequent depuration (4 d), whereas PWS worms decreased both the weight‐specific ( t 1/2 = 0.95 d) and the total‐body burden ( t 1/2 = 7.8 d), suggesting both active excretion and dilution of FLU body burden as a result of growth. Thus, our results indicate that the sediment‐associated pool is an important route of uptake in Capitella sp. I, and that such deposit feeders may be important for remobilization of sediment‐associated contaminants, such as fluoranthene.