Abstract: Sediment-water interface is a key area for material exchange and energy transfer in an aquatic ecosystem, and is a necessary pathway for the exchange of substances, including pollutants and nutrients, between sediment and overlying water. The behaviors of benthic bioturbators alter the structure of the existing sediments and the balance of the material exchange near the interface, significantly affecting the local microenvironmental characteristics as well as the microbial species, numbers and community composition, and making the  environment near the interface more complex and dynamic. The bioturbation can alter the transfer, transformation and bioavailability of the pollutants, and  reconstruct the cycling pathways and fluxes of important elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. We analyze and summarize the effects of benthic bioturbation on the environmental behavior of typical pollutants and typical biogeochemical cycling processes near the sediment-water interface, which contributes to an in-depth understanding of the benthic bioturbator-mediated environmental and biogeochemical processes, and to the recognition of the ecological significance of bioturbation.

Key words: sediment-water interface, bioturbation, heavy metal, organic pollutant, biogeochemical cycling