Bioaccumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances by freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates: Impact of species and sediment organic carbon content

Xiaoyan Yun; Asa J. Lewis; Galen Stevens-King; Christopher M. Sales; Daniel E. Spooner; Marie J. Kurz; Rominder Suri; Erica R. McKenzie

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161208

Bioaccumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances by freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates: Impact of species and sediment organic carbon content

Xiaoyan Yun, Asa J. Lewis, Galen Stevens-King, Christopher M. Sales, Daniel E. Spooner, Marie J. Kurz, Rominder Suri, Erica R. McKenzie

Biogeochemical Dynamics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in aquatic environments have caused global concern due to their persistence, toxicity, and potential bioaccumulation of some compounds. As an important compartment of the aquatic ecosystem, sediment properties impact PFAS partitioning between aqueous and solid phases, but little is known about the influence of sediment organic carbon content on PFAS bioaccumulation in benthic organisms. In this study, three freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates – worms (Lumbriculus variegatus), mussels (Elliptio complanata) and snails (Physella acuta) – were exposed for 28 days to PFAS spiked synthetic sediment equilibrated with a synthetic surface water. Using microcosms, sediment organic carbon content – 2%, 5% and 8% – was manipulated to assess its impact on PFAS bioaccumulation. Worms were found to have substantially greater PFAS bioaccumulation compared to mussels and snails. The bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) and biota sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) in worms were both one to two magnitudes higher than in mussels and snails, likely due to different habitat-specific uptake pathways and elimination capacities among species. In these experiments, increasing sediment organic carbon content decreased the bioaccumulation of PFAS to benthic macroinvertebrates. In worms, sediment organic carbon content was hypothesized to impact PFAS bioaccumulation by affecting PFAS partitioning and sediment ingestion rate. Notably, the BSAF values of 8:2 fluorotelomer sulfonic acid (FTS) were the largest among 14 PFAS for all species, suggesting that the benthic macroinvertebrates probably have different metabolic mechanisms for fluorotelomer sulfonic acids compared to fish evaluated in published literature. Understanding the impact of species and sediment organic carbon on PFAS bioaccumulation is key to developing environmental quality guidelines and evaluating potential ecological risks to higher trophic level species.

Original language	English
Article number	161208
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	866
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161208
State	Published - Mar 25 2023

Funding

This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The publisher acknowledges the US government license to provide public access to these results in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( https://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). This work was supported by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) grant ER19-1032 . Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Funders	Funder number
U.S. Department of Energy
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program	ER19-1032
UT-Battelle	DE-AC05-00OR22725

Keywords

Bioavailability
Biomonitoring
Elliptio complanata (mussels)
Lumbriculus variegatus (worms)
Physella acuta (snails)
Synthetic sediment

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161208

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Yun, X., Lewis, A. J., Stevens-King, G., Sales, C. M., Spooner, D. E., Kurz, M. J., Suri, R., & McKenzie, E. R. (2023). Bioaccumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances by freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates: Impact of species and sediment organic carbon content. Science of the Total Environment, 866, Article 161208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161208

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title = "Bioaccumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances by freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates: Impact of species and sediment organic carbon content",

abstract = "Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in aquatic environments have caused global concern due to their persistence, toxicity, and potential bioaccumulation of some compounds. As an important compartment of the aquatic ecosystem, sediment properties impact PFAS partitioning between aqueous and solid phases, but little is known about the influence of sediment organic carbon content on PFAS bioaccumulation in benthic organisms. In this study, three freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates – worms (Lumbriculus variegatus), mussels (Elliptio complanata) and snails (Physella acuta) – were exposed for 28 days to PFAS spiked synthetic sediment equilibrated with a synthetic surface water. Using microcosms, sediment organic carbon content – 2%, 5% and 8% – was manipulated to assess its impact on PFAS bioaccumulation. Worms were found to have substantially greater PFAS bioaccumulation compared to mussels and snails. The bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) and biota sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) in worms were both one to two magnitudes higher than in mussels and snails, likely due to different habitat-specific uptake pathways and elimination capacities among species. In these experiments, increasing sediment organic carbon content decreased the bioaccumulation of PFAS to benthic macroinvertebrates. In worms, sediment organic carbon content was hypothesized to impact PFAS bioaccumulation by affecting PFAS partitioning and sediment ingestion rate. Notably, the BSAF values of 8:2 fluorotelomer sulfonic acid (FTS) were the largest among 14 PFAS for all species, suggesting that the benthic macroinvertebrates probably have different metabolic mechanisms for fluorotelomer sulfonic acids compared to fish evaluated in published literature. Understanding the impact of species and sediment organic carbon on PFAS bioaccumulation is key to developing environmental quality guidelines and evaluating potential ecological risks to higher trophic level species.",

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AU - Yun, Xiaoyan

AU - Lewis, Asa J.

AU - Stevens-King, Galen

AU - Sales, Christopher M.

AU - Spooner, Daniel E.

AU - Kurz, Marie J.

AU - Suri, Rominder

AU - McKenzie, Erica R.

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N2 - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in aquatic environments have caused global concern due to their persistence, toxicity, and potential bioaccumulation of some compounds. As an important compartment of the aquatic ecosystem, sediment properties impact PFAS partitioning between aqueous and solid phases, but little is known about the influence of sediment organic carbon content on PFAS bioaccumulation in benthic organisms. In this study, three freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates – worms (Lumbriculus variegatus), mussels (Elliptio complanata) and snails (Physella acuta) – were exposed for 28 days to PFAS spiked synthetic sediment equilibrated with a synthetic surface water. Using microcosms, sediment organic carbon content – 2%, 5% and 8% – was manipulated to assess its impact on PFAS bioaccumulation. Worms were found to have substantially greater PFAS bioaccumulation compared to mussels and snails. The bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) and biota sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) in worms were both one to two magnitudes higher than in mussels and snails, likely due to different habitat-specific uptake pathways and elimination capacities among species. In these experiments, increasing sediment organic carbon content decreased the bioaccumulation of PFAS to benthic macroinvertebrates. In worms, sediment organic carbon content was hypothesized to impact PFAS bioaccumulation by affecting PFAS partitioning and sediment ingestion rate. Notably, the BSAF values of 8:2 fluorotelomer sulfonic acid (FTS) were the largest among 14 PFAS for all species, suggesting that the benthic macroinvertebrates probably have different metabolic mechanisms for fluorotelomer sulfonic acids compared to fish evaluated in published literature. Understanding the impact of species and sediment organic carbon on PFAS bioaccumulation is key to developing environmental quality guidelines and evaluating potential ecological risks to higher trophic level species.

AB - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in aquatic environments have caused global concern due to their persistence, toxicity, and potential bioaccumulation of some compounds. As an important compartment of the aquatic ecosystem, sediment properties impact PFAS partitioning between aqueous and solid phases, but little is known about the influence of sediment organic carbon content on PFAS bioaccumulation in benthic organisms. In this study, three freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates – worms (Lumbriculus variegatus), mussels (Elliptio complanata) and snails (Physella acuta) – were exposed for 28 days to PFAS spiked synthetic sediment equilibrated with a synthetic surface water. Using microcosms, sediment organic carbon content – 2%, 5% and 8% – was manipulated to assess its impact on PFAS bioaccumulation. Worms were found to have substantially greater PFAS bioaccumulation compared to mussels and snails. The bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) and biota sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) in worms were both one to two magnitudes higher than in mussels and snails, likely due to different habitat-specific uptake pathways and elimination capacities among species. In these experiments, increasing sediment organic carbon content decreased the bioaccumulation of PFAS to benthic macroinvertebrates. In worms, sediment organic carbon content was hypothesized to impact PFAS bioaccumulation by affecting PFAS partitioning and sediment ingestion rate. Notably, the BSAF values of 8:2 fluorotelomer sulfonic acid (FTS) were the largest among 14 PFAS for all species, suggesting that the benthic macroinvertebrates probably have different metabolic mechanisms for fluorotelomer sulfonic acids compared to fish evaluated in published literature. Understanding the impact of species and sediment organic carbon on PFAS bioaccumulation is key to developing environmental quality guidelines and evaluating potential ecological risks to higher trophic level species.

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ER -

Bioaccumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances by freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates: Impact of species and sediment organic carbon content

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