Bioavailability and toxicity of pyrene in soils upon biochar and compost addition
- Author(s)
- Lucie Bielská, Mélanie Kah, Gabriel Sigmund, Thilo Hofmann, Sebastian Höss
- Abstract
The study investigates the role of biochar and/or compost in mitigating the toxic effects of pyrene in soils using reproduction of nematodes and porewater concentration as measures of pyrene toxicity and bioavailability, respectively. Two soils were spiked with increasing levels of pyrene to achieve a concentration-response relationship for the reproduction of Caenorhabditis elegans. The observed EC50 values (pyrene concentration causing 50% inhibition of reproduction) were 14 mg/kg and 31 mg/kg (dry mass) for these soils, corresponding to equilibrium porewater concentrations of 37 μg/L and 47 μg/L, respectively. Differences in organic carbon content were not sufficient to explain the variability in toxicity between the different soils. Soils causing a significant inhibition of reproduction were further amended with 10%-compost, 5%-biochar, or both, and the effects on reproduction and porewater concentration determined. Combined addition of compost and biochar was identified as the most effective strategy in reducing pyrene concentration in soil porewater, which was also partly reflected in soil toxicity. However, porewater concentrations predicted only 52% of pyrene toxicity to nematodes, pointing to particle-bound or dietary exposure pathways.
Capsule: Amending pyrene-spiked soil with biochar and compost effectively reduced pyrene porewater concentrations and toxicity to nematodes, which were significantly related.- Organisation(s)
- External organisation(s)
- Masaryk University, Institut für Biodiversität - Netzwerk e.V., Ecossa
- Journal
- Science of the Total Environment
- Volume
- 595
- Pages
- 132–140
- No. of pages
- 9
- ISSN
- 0048-9697
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.230
- Publication date
- 04-2017
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 104023 Environmental chemistry, 104002 Analytical chemistry, 105906 Environmental geosciences
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pollution, Waste Management and Disposal, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Chemistry
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/4a26f2a0-f038-4f45-bd71-118a710e4f3d