Abstract: Marine sediment is considered as the important sink for heavy metals, while benthic invertebrates can accumulate heavy metals mainly through sediment ingestion. The ingested heavy metals can be transferred through food chain and finally affect human health. This paper summarized the research advances on the bioavailability of marine sedimentary heavy metals to benthic invertebrates, including the uptake pathway for heavy metal assimilation and the sediment geochemical and biological factors of governing the bioavailability of heavy metals to benthic invertebrates. Further researches were suggested to focus on the influence of inshore eutrophication on the bioavailability of sediment-bound heavy metals, the physical digestion process in the gut of benthic invertebrates involved with the bioavailability of sediment-bound heavy metals, and the variations of sedimentary heavy metals bioavailability in the whole life history of marine benthic invertebrates.

Key words: tomato, NaCl stress, GSH, redox state, photosynthesis.