Sediment contaminants and biological effects in southern california: use of a multivariate statistical approach to assess biological impact

摘要

This study attempts to predict biological toxicity and benthic community impact in sediments collected from two southern California sites. Contaminant concentrations and grains and grain size were evaluated as predictors using a two-step multivariate approach. The first step used principal component analysis (PCA) to describe contamination type and magnitude present at each site. Four Dominant PC vectors, explaining 88/100 of the total variance, each corresponded to a unique physical and/or chemical signature.