Relationship of the Clearance Rate and Nonylphenol Uptake Rate of Three Bivalve Species with Different Size Classes and Temperatures

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate relationship between nonylphenol uptake rate and clearance rate of Ruditapes philippinarum, Corbicula japonica and Mytilus edulis. Variation of the temperature and body size of the bivalves was used to modulate clearance rate and nonylphenol uptake rate in this experiment. Clearance rate and nonylphenol uptake rate experiments were determined for two different size classes of the bivalves (R. philippinarum: 0.35, 0.73 g, C. japonica : 0.047, 0.1000g, M. edulis: 0.30, 0.37 g; mean flesh dry weight) and three different temperature regime (5, 13 and 18 o C). Weight-specific clearance rate in all animal size and temperature ranges increased in the order of R. philippinarum, C. japonica and M. edulis. The weight-specific nonylphenol uptake rate did not show specific trend among species. The clearance rate and nonylphenol uptake rate generally decreased with animal size and increased with water temperature. For all three species nonylphenol uptake rate had a strong relationship with clearance rate. For a given clearance rate ranges, the nonylphenol uptake rate was in the order of R. philippinarum > C. japonica > M. edulis. The results suggest that water ventilation capacity of filter-feeding organisms is an important physiological factor controlling uptake rate of dissolved nonylphenol.