Bioavailability and metabolism of pyrene in sediments with the polychaete Arenicola marina

摘要

After oil pollution events, oil components as PAH may affect biota of near-coastal sediments for extended time periods, and bioturbation by infaunal organisms may affect the fate of PAHs. Modelling of bioavailability of hydrophobic sediment pollutants to aquatic organisms generally assumes that diffusion from water dominate uptake. This is, however, not necessarily true for sediment ingesting infauna. The lugworm Arenicola marina and [~(14)C-4,5,9,10] pyrene were used in experimental benthic microcosms to study infaunal interactions in distribution and metabolism of the PAH fraction of oil and allow quantification of pyrene and its metabolites including ~(14)CO_2, in interstitial and overlying water, sediment and worms. Manipulation of the sediment organic content allowed assessment of contributions from particle bound, freely dissolved, or dissolved-organic-matter-associated pyrene pools to pyrene uptake. The data suggest: 1 .Polychates reduce the retention time of PAHs like pyrene in contaminated sediments. 2. The particle associated PAH pool is bioavailable and determines bioaccumulation in sediment ingesting polychaetes. 3. The toxicity of PAHs affects the intensity of polychaete biotubation.