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AN OVERVIEW OF PARTITIONING AND BIOAVAILABILITY OF PAHS IN SEDIMENTS AND SOILS
Citation:
Burgess, R M., M. J. Ahrens, C. W. Hickey, P. J. den Besten, D. ten Hulscher, B. van Hattum, J. P. Meador, R. K. Achazi, C. Van Gestel, AND P. Douben. AN OVERVIEW OF PARTITIONING AND BIOAVAILABILITY OF PAHS IN SEDIMENTS AND SOILS. Chapter 7, P.E.T. Douben (ed.), PAHs: An Ecotoxicological Perspective. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, Uk, , 99-126, (2003).
Description:
Understanding and predicting any adverse effects of PAHs depends on generating a reliable measure or estimate of how much PAH is available for uptake. Simply knowing the total amount of PAH in soil, water or sediment is insufficient for determining whether or not these compounds are bioavailable. In sediments it has been observed that bioaccumulation and toxicity to organisms correlate much more strongly with interstitial water contaminant concentrations, specifically the freely dissolved concentrations, rather than with bulk sediment concentrations. This chapter provides an overview of PAH partitioning, including the different phases involved, and bioavailability in relation principally to bioaccumulation.