Analytical and biological data of banked samples--a requirement to interpret accumulation and leaching of pollutants...

The accumulation of organic and inorganic pollutants in biological specimens depends, in many cases, not only on the atmospheric deposition or immission and contamination of the biotop, but also on the dynamic properties of the indicator. Thus the analytical data assume properties of process variables. In order to compare them in relation to space and time, it is often practical to refer them to defined conditions of the indicator (stationary phases, time cycles of low dynamics). If the accumulation varies consistently under identical conditions of contamination and if clear functional relations exist to the features of the indicator, for instance age, weight or ecological processes, it is necessary to normalize the analytical data, i.e. to refer them to a condition of the indicator which is defined meaningfully with regard to the ecology. Interactions with other inputs of substances may result in a differentiation of accumulation and leaching processes which is more or less specific for each element. Such knowledge is important for specifying the standard operation procedures and the evaluation as well as interpretation of analytic data, in particular, in the clarification of the ecotoxicological relations between the pollutant accumulation and the reaction of populations and ecosystems.