Bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from buried shoreline oil residues thirteen years after the <i>Exxon Valdez</i> oil spill: A multispecies assessment

Neff, Jerry M.; Bence, A. E.; Parker, Keith R.; Page, David S.; Brown, John H.; Boehm, Paul D.

doi:10.1897/05-339r.1

Cited by 53 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…These low K ow compounds are also more likely to volatilize to the atmosphere compared to the more hydrophobic PAHs (e .g., phenanthrenes) leading to an increased percentage of high K ow compounds in solution. These physical processes explain the characteristic, time-dependent weathering pattern that emerges both in the natural environment (Bence and Burns 1995;Short and Heintz 1997;Carls et al 2001;Boehm et al 2004Boehm et al , 2005Neff et al 2006) and in laboratory studies (Marty et al 1997;Short and Heintz 1997;Heintz et al 1999Heintz et al , 2000Carls et al 1998Carls et al , 1999Carls et al , 2005Brannon et al 2006). To summarize, not only is the toxicity of dissolved PAHs important, the previously cited zebrafish study (Carls et al 2008) demonstrates toxicity of particulate oil is unimportant to fish embryos.…”

Section: Direct Contact With Whole Oil Does Not Contribute To Pah Toxmentioning

confidence: 88%

A Perspective on the Toxicity of Petrogenic PAHs to Developing Fish Embryos Related to Environmental Chemistry

Carls

Meador

2009

Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal

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Numerous studies demonstrate polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) dissolved from weathered crude oil adversely affect fish embryos at 0.5 to 23 µg/l. This conclusion has been challenged by studies that claim (1) much lower toxicity of weathered aqueous PAHs; (2) direct contact with dispersed oil droplets plays a significant role or is required for toxicity; (3) that uncontrolled factors (oxygen, ammonia, and sulfides) contribute substantively to toxicity; (4) polar compounds produced by microbial metabolism are the major cause of observed toxicity; and (5) that based on equilibrium models and toxic potential, water contaminated with weathered oil cannot be more toxic per unit mass than effluent contaminated with fresh oil. In contrast, several studies demonstrate high toxicity of weathered oil; shifts in PAH composition were consistent with dissolution (not particle ablation), embryos accumulated dissolved PAHs at low concentrations and were damaged, and assumed confounding factors were inconsequential. Consistent with previous empirical observations of mortality and weathering, temporal shifts in PAH composition (oil weathering) indicate that PAHs dissolved in water should (and do) become more toxic per unit mass with weathering because high molecular weight PAHs are more persistent and toxic than the more abundant low molecular weight PAHs in whole oil.

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Section: Direct Contact With Whole Oil Does Not Contribute To Pah Toxmentioning

confidence: 88%

A Perspective on the Toxicity of Petrogenic PAHs to Developing Fish Embryos Related to Environmental Chemistry

Carls

Meador

2009

Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal

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“…Petroleum hydrocarbons are mixtures of thousands of mainly hydrophobic compounds with a complex environmental behavior [9,10]. Probably because of this, bioaccumulation assessment after oil spills usually focuses on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [11,12], which are easily detectable and are generally considered the most toxic petrogenic compounds. However, a similar approach neglects toxic effects of other compounds present in the mixture, such as branched indanes and tetralins [13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A closer look at bioaccumulation of petroleum hydrocarbon mixtures in aquatic worms

Muijs

Jonker

2010

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Petroleum hydrocarbons (oils) are ubiquitous in the aquatic environment, and adequate risk assessment is thus essential. Bioaccumulation plays a key role in risk assessment, but the current knowledge on bioaccumulation of oils is limited. Therefore, this process was studied in detail, using the aquatic worm, Lumbriculus variegatus, and 14 field-contaminated sediments. The main focus during the present study was on uptake kinetics, the relationship between oil boiling point fraction and uptake, and effects of sediment characteristics. Uptake kinetics became slower with increasing boiling point fraction, but 70 to 90% of the equilibrium situation was reached within the standard exposure duration of 28 d. Worms accumulated sedimentary petroleum hydrocarbons in the range of C(10) to C(34), a range much wider than expected. Biota-to-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) for separate boiling point fractions were constant and around the proposed value of 1 to 2 up to C(22), but gradually decreased beyond this point. The decrease was probably caused by a combination of nonequilibrium conditions and enhanced sorption of higher boiling point fractions to sediments; the latter possibly due to the presence of strongly sorbing separate oil phases or black carbon. A negative relationship was observed between BSAF and oil concentration in sediment, which was explained by the presence of separate oil phases at high oil concentrations. These strongly sorbing phases may limit their own availability, particularly when being highly weathered; worms may also avoid them. The observed phenomena have obvious implications for bioaccumulation assessment of oils and suggest that the current risk assessment procedure for oils in sediments may lead to erroneous results.

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“…Water, sediment, and tissue samples were analyzed for 41 individual PAH and alkylated PAH isomer groups by gas chromatography with quantification by selected ion mass spectrometry as described by Neff et al [21]. Small amounts of parent naphthalene were present in some laboratory procedural blank samples, probably derived from laboratory contamination.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Small amounts of parent naphthalene were present in some laboratory procedural blank samples, probably derived from laboratory contamination. This contamination is accentuated in samples with low total PAH (TPAH) concentrations, resulting in an overestimation of TPAH concentration in water, sediment, and invertebrate samples containing the lowest TPAH concentrations [21].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure of sea otters and harlequin ducks in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, to shoreline oil residues 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Neff¹,

Page

Boehm

2011

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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We assessed whether sea otters and harlequin ducks in an area of western Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA (PWS), oiled by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS), are exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from oil residues 20 years after the spill. Spilled oil has persisted in PWS for two decades as surface oil residues (SOR) and subsurface oil residues (SSOR) on the shore. The rare SOR are located primarily on the upper shore as inert, nonhazardous asphaltic deposits, and SSOR are confined to widely scattered locations as small patches under a boulder/cobble veneer, primarily on the middle and upper shore, in forms and locations that preclude physical contact by wildlife and diminish bioavailability. Sea otters and harlequin ducks consume benthic invertebrates that they collect by diving to the bottom in the intertidal and subtidal zones. Sea otters also dig intertidal and subtidal pits in search of clams. The three plausible exposure pathways are through the water, in oil-contaminated prey, or by direct contact with SSOR during foraging. Concentrations of PAH in near-shore water off oiled shores in 2002 to 2005 were at background levels (<0.05 ng/L). Median concentrations of PAH in five intertidal prey species on oiled shores in 2002 to 2008 range from 4.0 to 34 ng/g dry weight, indistinguishable from background concentrations. Subsurface oil residues are restricted to locations on the shore and substrate types, where large clams do not occur and where sea otters do not dig foraging pits. Therefore, that sea otters and harlequin ducks continue to be exposed to environmentally significant amounts of PAH from EVOS 20 years after the spill is not plausible.

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Bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from buried shoreline oil residues thirteen years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill: A multispecies assessment

Cited by 53 publications

References 52 publications

A Perspective on the Toxicity of Petrogenic PAHs to Developing Fish Embryos Related to Environmental Chemistry

A Perspective on the Toxicity of Petrogenic PAHs to Developing Fish Embryos Related to Environmental Chemistry

A closer look at bioaccumulation of petroleum hydrocarbon mixtures in aquatic worms

Exposure of sea otters and harlequin ducks in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, to shoreline oil residues 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill

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