Environmental Sciences Commons^™

Spider Mediation Of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Transport And Transformation Across Riparian Ecotones, Diana Delach

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Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contaminate the sediment of the Twelvemile Creek / Lake Hartwell Superfund Site, and are known to be transported throughout the resident biota via trophic transport. Riparian spiders have recently become of interest because they are terrestrial organisms that have significant PCB exposures derived from aquatic sources. Many riparian spiders primarily consume insects emerging from contaminated aquatic systems, and these spiders can have a body burden as high as 2900 ng/g lipid. These emergent insects carry contaminants out of the river and into the riparian zone where they are captured by spiders, which effectively directs the contamination towards …