Bioconcentration of selected PAHs in marine phytoplankton: an experimental study

ARIAS, ANDRÉS HUGO; SOUISSI, ANISSA; GLIPPA, OLIVIER; NET SOPHEK; DUMOULIN DAVID; OUDANNE, BAGHDAD; OLIVA, ANA LAURA; JORGE MARCOVECCHIO; SOUISSI, SAMI

Mar del Plata

Congreso; III Reunión Argentina de Geoquímica de la Superficie; 2014

Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario (IGCYC) Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales-Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

PAHs are widespread pollutants which have the potential to enter to the marine trophic web, bioaccumulate and biomagnificate. Despite the overwhelming  information regarding animals in the upper steps of the food chain (fishes and mussels) there is a scarcity of research focusing in the lower steps, such as phytoplankton. In the present study PAH?s exposure experiments were run with high and ecological sound densities of Rhodomonas baltica in order to assess the role of phytoplankton in the marine food web PAH?s uptake process. Then, the algae Rhodomonas baltica was exposed to Phenanthrene, Fluoranthene and Pyrene (concentrations ranging from 113 to 148 ppb) and then the algae and medium were alternatively analyzed for PAHs by means of GC/MS. After several days of exposure the algae exhibited bioconcentration factors up to 45 and experimental Log Koc values which paralleled  the literature Koc for particulate sediment, which indicated a passive diffusion of the pollutants to the algae. Furthermore, PAH?s exposed algae showed decreased population biomass after several days in culture, demonstrating the sensitiveness of this specie to these pollutants.