Figure 1. Station locations at CLIS Disposal Site for the FVP (from Gentile et al. 1987)

ERDC TN-DOER-C23

September 2001

survival was directly related to recolonization of A. abdita at the CLIS site indicating that the test

was predictive of effects occurring in the field. Similarly, SFG in the mussel M. edulis also showed

good correspondence between laboratory and field measurements in animals exposed to SPP

concentrations of BRH sediment showing a response threshold of about 1.5 mg/L BRH sediment.

Furthermore, M. edulis SFG showed a strong relationship with accumulated contaminant tissue

concentrations. Reproduction and population growth were found to be sensitive end points in both

M. bahia and A. abdita. However, M. bahia was not found at the disposal site and A. abdita did

not recolonize the site in large enough numbers to permit direct field verification of observed

laboratory responses for reproduction or population growth.

Figure 1. Station locations at CLIS Disposal Site for the FVP (from Gentile et al. 1987)

In an evaluation of bioaccumulation tests, the FVP compared tissue residues in N. incisa and M. edulis

exposed in 28-day laboratory tests to tissue residues in these same species recovered from the field

(Gentile et al. 1988). For the field portion of the study, resident N. incisa present at the selected

station locations (CNTR, 400E, 1000E, and REFS) were recovered from the field while M. edulis

were collected from a clean control site and deployed from subsurface buoys 1 m above the sediment

surface at these same locations and then collected after 28 days of exposure. Measurements of field

exposures were based on water column concentrations of PCBs measured at each of the selected

field locations. In the laboratory N. incisa were exposed for up to 56 days in both bedded sediment

and suspended sediment while M. edulis were exposed only to suspended sediments in 28-day

exposures. The FVP focused exclusively on PCB bioaccumulation to validate the two laboratory-

based bioaccumulation tests. PCBs were selected for the field verification component because "of