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Prediction of large variation in biota to sediment accumulation factors due to concentration‐dependent black carbon adsorption of planar hydrophobic organic compounds
Author(s) -
Cornelissen Gerard,
Gustafsson Örjan
Publication year - 2005
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 - 10.1897/04-152r.1
Subject(s) - biota , adsorption , sediment , environmental chemistry , carbon black , total organic carbon , chemistry , carbon fibers , variation (astronomy) , environmental science , ecology , geology , materials science , biology , organic chemistry , paleontology , natural rubber , composite number , composite material , physics , astrophysics
Biota‐to‐sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) sometimes show large variations between sites for a given planar hydrophobic organic compound (pHOC) in a given organism. We present a framework in which strong adsorption to soot/charcoal (black carbon [BC]) explains such BSAF variations. Recently constrained parameters on environmental BC sorption were used in a dual‐mode sorption model of BSAF. Variations in sedimentary BC content are shown to explain variations in BSAF of one to two orders of magnitude. In addition, strong BC sorption can explain the often‐observed difference in BSAF between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The strong nonlinearity of BC sorption can render BSAF values strongly concentration‐dependent for a given sediment/organism/compound combination, so it is of paramount importance to carry out uptake and toxicity tests at the relevant environmental concentrations.