Date of Award
2007
Publication Type
Master Thesis
Department
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
This thesis quantified elimination rate coefficient (' ktot') variability for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in a common mussel biomonitor ('Elliptio complanata'). ' ktot' is used to estimate steady state contaminant concentrations in mussel tissue ('Cm(ss)'), a surrogate for what is bioavailable in the water to other organisms. Chapter 2 showed that temperature had a weak influence on 'ktot', but generally increased it between 14, 20, and 25 C in the laboratory. The suitability of environmentally rare performance reference compound (PRC) PCBs as representative of elimination by the more prevalent Aroclors was also verified. Chapter 3 revealed the necessity of using PRC PCBS to quantify 'in situ ktot' values for mussel biomonitors, demonstrated errors associated with using laboratory-derived ' ktot' values to calculate 'Cm(ss)', and revealed spatial patterns of PCB contamination in the Huron-Erie Corridor. Characteristics of food quantity and quality are thought to explain more ' in situ ktot' variability, and lab-'in situ' differences.
Recommended Citation
Raeside, Ashley A., "Investigating the variability of PCB toxicokinetics in the freshwater mussel biomonitor, Elliptio complanata" (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4664.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/4664