Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

Particle Mixing By The Polychaete Capitella Species 1: Coupling Fate And Effect Of A Particle-Bound Organic Contaminant (Fluoranthene) In A Marine Sediment, Susanne D. Madsen, Thomas L. Forbes, Valery E. Forbes

Valery Forbes Publications

Particle mixing by the polychaete Capitella sp. 1 was investigated in a 22 d microcosm experiment in the presence and absence of the sediment-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) fluoranthene. Mixing by Capitella sp. 1 (30000 ind. m^–2) was examined using glass bead tracers (diam. = 30 to 100 μm) with and without a pulse introduction of fluoranthene to the sediment surface. Worms had a profound effect on the sediment appearance and reworked sediment in a conveyor-belt fashion. The predominant mode of mixing was bioadvective, and the worms created a subsurface maximum in the glass bead tracer profiles. Glass …