TA7 Bioaccumulation and Kinetics of POPs
201 Oregon Ballroom
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Tuesday
() POP Distributions in the Lower Foodweb of Morphologically Distinct Southwestern Ontario Freshwater Systems.
Hagen, H1, Paterson, G1, Drouillard, K1, 2, Fowle, D1, 2, 3, Haffner, G1, 2, 4, 1 Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada2 Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada3 Canada Research Chair (Biogeochemistry), University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada4 Canada Research Chair (Great Lakes), University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT- This research investigated the relative importance of lake depth and thermal structure on POP distributions in the lower foodweb of several morphologically distinct Southern Ontario freshwater lakes. Plankton (63um & 150um mesh), sediment, benthic community and water chemistry samples were collected during open water periods of 2002 to 2003 to develop seasonal POP distributions. Mussels (Elliptio complanata) were deployed in containment cages as biomonitors of POP residues in the water column. Within lake comparison of mussel:sediment congener distributions were generally similar for higher molecular weight compounds, indicative of known atmospheric deposition patterns. Mussels did reflected relatively higher percentage of lower weight congeners indicating that these compounds are undergoing some form of recycling, possibly due to greater resuspension of sediment bound organic material from hydraulic mixing events. Differences in chemical activity between the benthic and pelagic components were compared by determining biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs), plankton:mussel and mussel:sediment fugacity ratios. The data indicated that non-equilibrium conditions exist between sediment, water and plankton, and that PCB uptake is diluted during periods of high primary productivity.
Key words: elliptio complanata, pcb, fugacity, bsaf