Predicting the environmental partitioning of organic contaminants and their transfer to biota

Abstract

Examines the partitioning behaviour of chemicals in aquatic ecosystems, outlining this behaviour in qualitative terms by identifying the phases or compartments of interest, and the extent to which organic chemicals can establish concentration differences between these compartments. In many respects the partitioning phenomena can be explained by simple physical chemical principles. There are two methods of characterizing this partitioning behaviour: the conventional partition coefficient approach, and the fugacity approach. Principles are applied quantitatively to systems such as the North American Great Lakes giving examples from real ecosystems. -from Authors