Predicting bioavailability of sediment-associated organic contaminants for Diporeia spp. and Oligochaetes

Biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAF) were calculated for Diporeia spp. and oligochaete worms exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from field-collected sediment. These data were compared to the contaminant fraction extracted from sediment with Tenax resin using a 24 h extraction. A previous laboratory study suggested a linear relationship between log BSAF and the contaminant fraction rapidly desorbed from sediment. However, the BSAF data in our study did not fit this relationship. Better predictive regressions for both PCBs and PAHs were found when the log of the lipid-normalized organism contaminant concentrations were plotted against the log of the Tenax-extracted organic carbon-normalized sediment contaminant concentration. Regression lines for the two species had the same slope, but the Diporeia intercept was 2.3 times larger. When adjusted for a 6 h Tenax extraction, based on a regression between 6 and 24 h Tenax extractions, data from this study and two other studies that included multiple oligochaete species fit a single predictive regression. The exception included some PAHs that fell below the regression line. Thus, a single relationship generally predicted bioaccumulation across sediments, compound classes, oligochaete species, and among laboratories.