| Abstract
| - Experiments were conducted to test whether passivesamplers made of low-density polyethylene (polyethylenedevices, or PEDs) can estimate the extent of uptake ofpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by benthicpolychaetes (Nereis virens) in contaminated marine sediments.For a variety of PAHs, PEDs reached 90% equilibriumwith sediment PAHs in 60 days or less. Using 60-daysediment bioaccumulation tests, we have demonstrated asignificant relationship between PAH concentrations inthe polychaetes and the PEDs (R2 = 0.67, p = 0.002), withthe PEDs taking up less PAHs than the polychaetes.Because of this relationship, PEDs can potentially be usedin a regulatory context to simulate uptake of bioavailablePAHs in contaminated marine sediments. The PED PAHconcentrations were also used to calculate porewater PAHconcentrations that allowed for the estimation of alinear free-energy relationship between the lipid−waterdistribution coefficient (Klip) and the octanol−water distributioncoefficient (KOW) for PAH uptake in marine polychaetes(R2 = 0.94, p< 0.0001).
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