UPTAKE, BIOAVAILABILITY AND ELIMINATION OF HYDROPHOBIC COMPOUNDS IN EARTHWORMS (EISENIA-ANDREI) IN FIELD-CONTAMINATED SOIL

Uptake, accumulation, and elimination of hydrophobic organic chemicals in earthworms (Eisenia andrei) exposed to field-contaminated Volgermeerpolder soil was studied. Earthworms were able to take up chlorobenzenes and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), but body burdens did not exceed concentrations measured in the soil. For the chlorobenzenes, steady-state concentrations in the worms and biota-to-soil accumulation factor (BSAF) values were much smaller than expected based on earlier experiments, suggesting a decreased bioavailability in the Volgermeerpolder soil. Comparison of the PCB accumulation pattern in worms to the pattern in soil showed that biotransformation of the studied PCBs is of minor importance in this species. Elimination of all chemicals studied was monophasic, with the exception of hexachlorobenzene, which showed a biphasic elimination. The elimination half-life for the initial fast phase of this compound is comparable to the elimination measured in previous studies. Elimination rate constants decreased with increasing log K-ow.