Palaeotoxicity: reconstructing the risk of multiple sedimentary pollutants to freshwater organisms.

ABSTRACT: 'Real-world' contaminant exposure of sediment-dwelling biota is typically long-term, low-level and to multiple pollutants. However, sediment quality guidelines, designed to protect these organisms, relate only to single contaminants. This study uses radiometrically dated sediment cores from 7 English lakes with varying contamination histories to reconstruct temporal changes in likely risk to biota (herein termed 'palaeotoxicity'). The Probable Effects Concentration Quotient (PEC-Q) approach was used to combine sediment concentrations from multiple contaminants (trace metals; PCBs; PBDEs) to determine risk allocated to metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) separately as well as combined (PEC-Q Mean-All). Urban-influenced lakes were considerably more contaminated, exceeding PEC-Q t

SUBMITTER: Rose NL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6061110 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature