Baseline Ecological Risk Assessment of the Calcasieu Estuary, Louisiana: Part 3. An Evaluation of the Risks to Benthic Invertebrates Associated With Exposure to Contaminated Sediments

Arch Environ Contam Toxicol (2011) 61:2958 DOI 10.1007/s00244-010-9638-7

Baseline Ecological Risk Assessment of the Calcasieu Estuary, Louisiana: Part 3. An Evaluation of the Risks to Benthic Invertebrates Associated With Exposure to Contaminated Sediments

Donald D. MacDonald Christopher G. Ingersoll Nile E. Kemble

Dawn E. Smorong Jesse A. Sinclair Rebekka Lindskoog Gary Gaston

Denise Sanger R. Scott Carr James Biedenbach Ron Gouguet

John Kern Ann Shortelle L. Jay Field John Meyer

Received: 23 November 2009 / Accepted: 20 December 2010 / Published online: 26 March 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC (outside the USA) 2011

Abstract The sediments in the Calcasieu Estuary are contaminated with a wide variety of chemicals of potential concern (COPCs), including heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, phthalates, chlorinated benzenes, and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans. The sources of these COPCs include both point and nonpoint source discharges. As part of a baseline ecological risk assessment, the risks to benthic invertebrates posed by exposure to sediment-associated COPCs were assessed using ve lines of evidence, including whole-sediment chemistry, pore-water

chemistry, whole-sediment toxicity, pore-water toxicity, and benthic invertebrate community structure. The results of this assessment indicated that exposure to whole sediments and/or pore water from the Calcasieu Estuary generally posed low risks to benthic invertebrate communities(i.e., risks were classied as low for 68% of the sampling locations investigated). However, incremental risks to benthic invertebrates (i.e., compared with those associated with exposure to conditions in reference areas) were indicated for 32% of the sampling locations within the estuary. Of the three areas of concern (AOCs) investigated, the risks

D. D. MacDonald (&) D. E. Smorong J. A. Sinclair

MacDonald Environmental Sciences Ltd., #24-4800 Island Highway North, Nanaimo, BC V9T 1W6, Canadae-mail: [email protected]

C. G. Ingersoll N. E. Kemble

Columbia Environmental Research Center, United States Geological Survey, 4200 New Haven Road, Columbia, MO 65201, USA

R. LindskoogSummit Environmental Consultants Ltd., #200-2800 29th Street, Vernon, BC V1T 9P9, Canada

G. Gaston208 Woodland Hills Drive, Oxford, MS 38655, USA

D. SangerSouth Carolina Marine Resources Research Institute, 217 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC 29422, USA

R. S. Carr J. Biedenbach

Columbia Environmental Research Center, United States Geological Survey, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA

R. GouguetWindward Environmental LLC, 200 West Mercer Street, Suite 401, Seattle, WA 98119-3958, USA