Selective, Low Sample Mass Invertebrate Sampling to Support Remedial Investigation with Potential COPC Bioaccumulation

摘要

Background. Recalcitrance is a term that should not be limited to the types of chemicals found in the environment, but it should also apply to contaminated matrices such as biota that require reformulation of sampling, extraction and analytical techniques. This presentation highlights the challenges of sampling and analyzing spiders during a remedial investigation focused on an estuarine ecosystem, including waterways and surrounding Phragmites australis marshes. Wolf spiders were sampled in support of an ecological risk assessment encompassing both qualitative food web studies (i.e., gut contents) and analysis of targeted organisms for bioaccumulated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and methyl mercury. Following preliminary field screening of insects in the summer of 2011, subsequent field sampling efforts required the collection of spiders, with an emphasis on predatory wolf spiders (family Lycosidae) that were believed to represent a link in the food web as a prey species for insectivorous organisms (e.g., birds).