Are PCBS in phytoplankton and zooplankton at equilibrium with the water in which they live?

Food chain bioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can result in harmful concentrations within higher trophic level organisms such as fish and humans. It is important to consider how the concentrations of PCBs in phytoplankton and zooplankton affect higher trophic organisms. It was hypothesized that polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations within primary producers such as phytoplankton simply reflect chemical equilibrium of PCB congeners freely dissolved in the water column and in the lipid fraction of the plankton. In this study, the freely dissolved PCBs in the water of Lake Cochituate, MA, were measured using polyethylene (PE) passive sampling strips, thereby avoiding problems associated with colloid-bound PCBs. Phytoplankton and zooplankton samples were measured to determine their PCB levels and lipid fractions. The phytoplankton were at equilibrium in the fall of 2016. The phytoplankton and zooplankton appeared close to equilibrium in the spring of 2017. The large PCB congeners measured in the spring of 2017 may have been undersaturated, consistent with the idea that rapid growth leads to phytoplankton undersaturation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Cacciola, Angela(Angela Marie)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Philip M. Gschwend.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124190

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/124190