Bioavailability of xenobiotics in the soil environment

Arata Katayama*, Raj Bhula, G. Richard Burns, Elizabeth Carazo, Allan Felsot, Denis Hamilton, Caroline Harris, Yong Hwa Kim, Gijs Kleter, Werner Koedel, Jan Linders, J. G.M.Willie Peijnenburg, Aleksandar Sabljic, R. Gerald Stephenson, D. Kenneth Racke, Baruch Rubin, Keiji Tanaka, John Unsworth, R. Donald Wauchope

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

140 Scopus citations

Abstract

When synthetic, xenobiotic compounds such as agrochemicals and industrial chemicals are utilized, they eventually reach the soil environment where they are subject to degradation, leaching, volatilization, sorption, and uptake by organisms. The simplest assumption is that such chemicals in soil are totally available to microorganisms, plant roots, and soil fauna via direct, contact exposure; subsequently these organisms are consumed as part of food web processes and bioaccumulation may occur, increasing exposures to higher organisms up the food chain. However, studies in the last two decades have revealed that chemical residues in the environment are not completely bioavailable, so that their uptake by biota is less than the total amount present in soil (Alexander 1995; Gevao et al. 2003; Paine et al. 1996). Therefore, the toxicity, biodegradability, and efficacy of xenobiotics are dependent on their soil bioavailability, rendering this concept profoundly important to chemical risk assessment and pesticide registration.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationReviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
EditorsDavid Whitacre
Pages1-86
Number of pages86
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010

Publication series

NameReviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
Volume203
ISSN (Print)0179-5953

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