Yooeun Chae, Lia Kim, Jieun Lee
Jul 27, 2021
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Journal
Environmental pollution
Abstract
Toluene is a highly flammable and commonly used industrial chemical with severe health consequences on humans upon exposure and ingestion. In this study, multispecies bioassays were conducted using a species sensitivity distribution approach to determine acute and chronic hazardous concentrations of toluene in soil. Acute and chronic toluene toxicity tests were conducted with seven soil species from four taxonomic groups. The results from the toxicity tests were used to estimate the acute and chronic HC5 (hazardous concentration for 5 % of species) of toluene in the terrestrial environment at 58.9 (5.4-639.6) mg kg-1 and 2.2 (0.2-19.8) mg kg-1, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to estimate the hazardous concentration of toluene in soil by conducting a battery of bioassays. These values can be used as references for the environmental risk assessment of chemical accidents involving toluene and estimating its impact on soil to protect the terrestrial environment.