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Table 1 . Vegetation (a) and environmental (b) data for seven sampling areas located in northern (N) and southern (S) Kuwait. Data for variables are mean values (± standard error). Units for PAHs: µg kg-1 soil dry weight. Significance testing for 14 individual PAHs (see methods for abbreviations: acenaphthene (ANA) and fluorene (FL) not shown: concentrations below limit of detection in all samples) was carried out only if at least one area mean value exceeded 20.0 µg kg-1 soil dry weight. Per variable means sharing a superscript letter in common do not significantly differ (ANOVA with Tukey’s post-hoc mean separation test). For variables where data could not be normalised (ODS data) non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis testing was used and mean separation was not attempted. Values for total PAH content are the sum of all component PAHs measured. Outcomes: NS: P<0.05; *: P<0.05; **: P<0.01; ***: P<0.001; - : no determination made.