Premium
Quantitative application of biodegradation data to environmental risk and exposure assessments
Author(s) -
Larson Robert J.,
Cowan Christina E.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620140821
Subject(s) - biodegradation , environmental science , environmental chemistry , environmental risk assessment , risk assessment , ecology , chemistry , biology , computer science , computer security
Biodegradation is an important removal mechanism for natural and synthetic organic chemicals released to aquatic, benthic, and terrestrial ecosystems. It results in a decrease in the overall mass or load of chemicals present in the environment and is key in preventing the accumulation and persistence of chemicals in specific environmental compartments. Although biodegradation is an important process for minimizing potential adverse impacts on environmental systems, it has not been traditionally considered in a quantitative fashion in environmental risk assessments. This article outlines an approach and provides simple kinetic criteria for incorporating biodegradation rate data into environmental exposure and risk assessments. The approach is a generic one that relates biodegradation half‐lives to chemical residence times in specific environmental compartments. It is broadly applicable to any organic chemical in a range of environmental compartments and has potential use as a technical and regulatory tool to better quantify environmental exposure and risk.