Data acquired in laboratory experiments conducted with a model freshwater invertebrate to characterize dietary uranium bioavailability

Determining the environmental health effects of uranium (U) to aquatic species requires understanding its exposure pathways, which include both the aqueous and dietary uptake routes. But little is known about the drivers of U bioavailability from solid phases. In this study, we characterized U bioavailability from 8 solids using a freshwater invertebrate as a model species. Solids included benthic diatoms pre-exposed to dissolved U(VI), soils from contaminated U mine sites, ferrihydrite (HFO) synthesized in the presence of dissolved U(VI), and HFO suspensions added to synthetic freshwater containing U sorbed to natural organic matter at various U concentrations. In addition to providing estimates of U bioavailability, data from this data release can be used to calculate U uptake rates, U assimilation efficiencies, food ingestion rates, as well as elimination rates for different solids.