Evaluating the contribution of ingested oil droplets to the bioaccumulation of oil components - A modeling approach

Karel P.J. Viaene, Colin R. Janssen, Lisette de Hoop, A. Jan Hendriks, Frederik De Laender

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The dietary uptake of oil droplets by aquatic organisms has been suggested as a possible exposure pathway for oil-related chemicals. We confronted two bioaccumulation models, one including and one neglecting oil droplet uptake, with measured polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) body burdens of five marine species. The model without oil droplet uptake was able to predict 75% of the observations within one order of magnitude. Total PAH body burdens were predicted within a factor of five. For most species, inclusion of oil droplet uptake did not improve model accuracy, suggesting a negligible contribution of oil droplet uptake to PAH bioaccumulation. Only for Mytilus edulis, model accuracy improved (up to five times) after the inclusion of oil droplet uptake. Our findings suggest filter feeding as a determinant for the PAH uptake via oil droplets, but more research is needed to test this hypothesis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)99-106
Number of pages8
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume499
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Nov 2014

Keywords

  • Bioaccumulation modeling
  • Dispersed oil
  • Oil spill
  • Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

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