ABSTRACT
It is difficult to predict the effects of pollutants on organisms to an acceptable degree of accuracy by simply measuring concentrations of a chemical in the abiotic environment (Figure 11.1). Factors that affect bioavailability of chemicals to organisms include temperature fluctuations, interactions with other pollutants, soil and sediment type, rainfall, pH, and salinity. Even using biotic monitoring of chemical residue levels (see Section 11.3), there are considerable difficulties in knowing the effects of this level of chemical on the organism. This process is made more difficult by the presence of mixtures (see Chapter 9) and the considerable interspecies differences in response.
