Deriving site-specific soil clean-up values for metals and metalloids: rationale for including protection of soil microbial processes.

ABSTRACT: Although it is widely recognized that microorganisms are essential for sustaining soil fertility, structure, nutrient cycling, groundwater purification, and other soil functions, soil microbial toxicity data were excluded from the derivation of Ecological Soil Screening Levels (Eco-SSL) in the United States. Among the reasons for such exclusion were claims that microbial toxicity tests were too difficult to interpret because of the high variability of microbial responses, uncertainty regarding the relevance of the various endpoints, and functional redundancy. Since the release of the first draft of the Eco-SSL Guidance document by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 2003, soil microbial toxicity testing and its use in ecological risk assessments have substantially improved. A wide ra

SUBMITTER: Kuperman RG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4286203 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature