BIOACCUMULATION IN THE SOIL TO EARTHWORM SYSTEM

A three phase model involving soil to soil water and soil water to earthworm partitioning has been developed for bioaccumulation of stable lipophilic compounds from soil by earthworms. Data on bioaccumulation has been collated from the literature to test the model. The soil water to earthworm bioconcentration factor (log form) was linearly related to the octan-l-ol to water partition coefficient(log form) as expected from the model and similar to bioconcentration with oligochaetes and aquatic organisms. The model predicted that the bioaccumulation factor (soil based) would be weakly dependent on the octanol to water partition coefficient but strongly influenced by the lipid content of the soil. The experimental data was in support of these predictions. © 1990.