Figure 3.

Effect of the presence of worms (Lumbriculus variegatus) on the bioaccumulation of PFAS in plant roots (Myriophyllum spicatum) following exposure to field sediments from two locations. Average (±SEM) LogBSAFs for PFAS bioaccumulation in roots in the presence and absence of worms are plotted for the reference (Gaasperplas) (A) and contaminated (Blokkersdijk) (B) sediments (n = 4, except with missing error bars n = 1). In panel C, BSAFs for PFAS overlapping between the two locations are plotted together, and the compounds of each pair are connected with each other with a dashed line. The names of the compounds corresponding to each data point are presented and the number in parentheses indicates the number of fluorinated carbons. The letters R (reference) and C (contaminated) in the last panel indicate the locations. All BSAF values are given in kg sediment dw/kg root dw. The solid orange line indicates the 1:1 line, and the dotted gray lines indicate the margin of ±0.2 log units, which was used to evaluate the distance of the compounds from the 1:1 line.