Ecological risk assessment for land contaminated by petrochemical industry

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 13; no. 10; p. e0204852
• Main Authors: Gworek, Barbara, Baczewska-Dąbrowska, Aneta Helena, Kalinowski, Radosław, Górska, Ewa Beata, Rekosz-Burlaga, Hanna, Gozdowski, Dariusz, Olejniczak, Izabella, Graniewska, Magdalena, Dmuchowski, Wojciech
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 11.10.2018; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Arthropods; Biodiversity; Biology and Life Sciences; Chemical compounds; Chemical pollution; Chromatography, Gas; Contamination; Ecological risk assessment; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Ecosystems; Ecotoxicology; Environmental protection; Environmental risk; Land pollution; Life sciences; Management decisions; Mass Spectrometry; Organic chemistry; Organic compounds; Petrochemicals industry; Petroleum Pollution - analysis; Physical Sciences; Plant Development - drug effects; Poland; Pollutants; Pollution; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - analysis; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - toxicity; Power plants; Principal Component Analysis; Risk Assessment; Sediments; Soil contamination; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Soil Pollutants - toxicity; Soil properties; Soil quality; Volatile Organic Compounds - analysis; Volatile Organic Compounds - toxicity; Poland; Denmark
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204852

Contamination with harmful chemical substances, including organic compounds of the BTEX and PAH groups, constitutes one of the major threats to the functioning of soil habitat. Excessive contents of the above substances can exert adverse effects on soil organisms, reduce biodiversity, and thus deteriorate soil quality. The threat to soil ecosystems within areas particularly exposed to contamination with accumulating chemical compounds was assessed using the Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) with a multi-stage Triad (triage rapid initial assessment) procedure (taking into account the different lines of evidence). The article presents the results of chemical and ecotoxicological study of soils sampled at sites affected by contamination from petrochemical industry. The study results provided foundations for developing the site specific ERA framework for the area examined.