Trophic Transfer of Contaminants from Organisms Living by Chromated-Copper-Arsenate (CCA)-Treated Wood to Their Predators

摘要

Oysters, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin), collected from a residential canal lined with wood treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA) has elevated levels of the metals in their tissues. Carnivorous snail, Thais haemastoma floridana (Conrad), fed the oysters gradually ate less than snails fed reference oysters, and grew less over an eight-week period. Snails that ate canal oysters increased their body burden of copper about 4-fold over 8 weeks; their tissue concentrations were comparable to field-collected snails gathered from a CCA bulkhead in open water. Thais specimens were not found within a canal. Juvenile fish (Leiostomus xanthurus Lacepede and Lagodon rhomboides Linn.) were fed worms (primary Neanthes succinea Frey and Leuckart) collected from sediments adjacent to a CCA bulkhead facing open water. The worms had elevated concentrations of the metals compared to worms from a reference site.