EFFECT OF STORAGE-CONDITIONS OF SOIL ON ECOTOXICOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT

The bacterial bioluminescence and the Daphnia tests were used to asses s toxicity of three different soil samples stored under various condit ions. Depending on the kind of contaminants, e.g. heavy metals or hydr ocarbons, on the nature of the vessel walls and on the storage tempera ture and time, non-uniform, but distinct differences in the results of ecotoxicological tests were observed. Soil samples contaminated with organic pollutants showed a decrease of toxicity along with a decrease of volatile organic compounds with time. In contrast, samples contain ing heavy metals showed an increase of toxicity with time. Results ind icated that more attention should be given to storage conditions of so ils used in ecotoxicological investigations. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.