Assessment of the Comparative Toxicity of Sewage Effluent from 10 Sewage Treatment Plants in the Area of Sydney, Australia using an Amphipod and Two Sea Urchin Bioassays

Woodworth, JG; King, Catherine K.; Miskiewicz, Anthony G.; Laginestra, Edwina; Simon, Joseph

doi:10.1016/s0025-326x(99)00096-x

Cited by 17 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The 96‐h amphipod acute toxicity test with juveniles of A. compressa was undertaken on the basis of methods described by APHA (1998) and USEPA (1994, 1996b). The test endpoint was percent survival of juvenile organisms at 96 h. Allorchestes compressa has previously been used in the assessment of effluent toxicity in the Sydney area (AWT ES&T 1996; Woodworth et al 1999). Juvenile amphipods (approximately 2‐5 mm in length) were collected from Portarlington, Victoria, Australia, and held in aquaria in the laboratory until required for testing.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct toxicity assessment of volatile chlorinated hydrocarbon‐contaminated groundwater and derivation of a site‐specific guideline

Hunt

Birch

Warne

et al. 2009

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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Groundwater contaminated with a mixture of 14 volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons (VCHs) discharges to an estuarine embayment in Sydney, Australia. A screening-level hazard assessment identified a potential risk to aquatic organisms from surface water contaminated by the groundwater. Direct toxicity assessment of the groundwater was undertaken on 5 indigenous marine species to assess toxicity and derive a site-specific guideline. The testing included acute tests, subchronic tests on early life stages, and a chronic test. Test organisms included a microalga (Nitzschia closterium), an amphipod (Allorchestes compressa), a polychaete worm (Diopatra dentata), and sea urchin (Heliocidaris tuberculata) and oyster larvae (Saccostrea commercialis). Toxicity testing was undertaken in sealed containers to prevent loss of VCHs, and concentrations of VCHs were measured to accurately assess exposure concentrations. No observed effect concentration (NOEC) values varied from 1.56% dilution (1.11 mg total VCHs) to 50% dilution (45.5 mg total VCHs). EC50 values varied from 4.8% dilution (3.77 mg total VCHs) to more than 50% dilution (45.5 mg total VCHs). NOEC data were used to derive species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) and a site-specific guideline. SSDs were derived from Burr type III (including the Pareto) and log-normal distributions. The log-normal distribution represented the best fit, and because the Pareto distribution is a finite threshold model more suited to toxicants with a threshold mode of action, the log-normal SSD and the associated 95% trigger value (TV) of 830 microg/L of total VCHs, was adopted as the site-specific TV for the groundwater.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct toxicity assessment of volatile chlorinated hydrocarbon‐contaminated groundwater and derivation of a site‐specific guideline

Hunt

Birch

Warne

et al. 2009

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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“…As described in several studies (Woodworth et al 1999;Binet et al 2003;Byrne et al 2003;Doyle et al 2003;McCready et al 2004), the H. tuberculata fertilisation test is based on the approach used for northern hemisphere echinoids where the sperm are exposed to the test solution for 1 h prior to addition of eggs (Dinnel et al 1987;Weber et al 1988).…”

Section: Sea Urchin Fertilisation Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toxicity of landfill leachate to sea urchin development with a focus on ammonia

et al. 2008

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Sea urchin gametes and embryos serve as a model system to evaluate toxicity in the marine environment. In this study, the toxicity of complex chemical mixtures in leachate samples to sea urchin development was examined with a focus on ammonia, which was the main contaminant of concern in most samples. Two rapid tests, the submitochondrial particle function and bacterial luminescence tests, were also used. Ammonia is highly toxic to sea urchin embryos with an EC50 of 1.3 mg l(-1) for the embryos of the Australian sea urchin Heliocidaris tuberculata. Leachate ammonia levels were well above these EC50 concentrations. To assess the contribution of ammonia to leachate toxicity in sea urchin development, we compared the predicted toxic units (PTU) and observed toxic units (OTU) for ammonia for each sample. The PTU/OTU comparison revealed that the sensitivity of the sea urchin embryos to ammonia were altered (enhanced or decreased) by other chemicals in the leachates. This result emphasises the need for parallel chemical analyses and a suite bioassays for evaluating the toxicity of complex and variable chemical mixtures.

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“…These studies do not report evidence of lethal levels of contamination, prompting questions over whether lethality endpoints are the most reliable in detecting long-term and potentially subtle effects (Gavrilescu et al, 2015). The impact of whole WwTW effluent on amphipod osmoregulation (Johnson & Jones, 1990), metabolism (Agnew & Jones, 1986), food consumption (Maltby et al, 2002;Bundschuh & Schulz, 2011b;Bundschuh et al, 2011c), reproduction (Schneider et al, 2015;Wigh et al, 2017), genotoxicity (Wigh et al, 2017) and survival (Woodworth et al, 1999) has been investigated through direct exposure assays and produced mixed results. Many of these endpoints might first impinge on the behaviour of the amphipod which can provide further insights onto the total toxicity (Hellou, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of wastewater effluent on multiple behaviours in the amphipod, Gammarus pulex

Love

Crooks

Ford

2020

Environmental Pollution

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The prevalence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in lotic habitats is increasing, with the main source of these contaminants being effluent from waste water treatment works (WwTW). There is still much uncertainty about the impacts of these PPCPs at environmentally relevant concentrations and their potential effects on aquatic ecology. Behaviour is a sensitive endpoint which can help evaluate possible population levels effects from changes in physiology. This paper evaluates the effects of WwTW effluent on a range of behaviours in the freshwater invertebrate, Gammarus pulex. Effluent taken from the outflow of two WwTW in southern England was used in the study.Behavioural analyses, namely feeding rate, phototaxis, activity, velocity and precopula pairing, were measured in G. pulex following a period of one and three weeks after exposure to a 50% or 100% effluent and a control. Mortality remained very low throughout the 3 week experiment (0-10%, n = 20) and no significant changes in moulting frequency were observed (p > 0.05). No significant effects on feeding or velocity or phototaxis following 3 weeks of effluent exposures were observed (p > 0.05). However, significant reductions were observed in the overall activity over 3 weeks across which appeared to be exacerbated by exposure to effluents. Interestingly, males exposed for 3 weeks to WwTW effluent re-paired with unexposed females significantly faster (4-6x) than control animals. This result was consistent between the effluents taken from the two WwTW. The implications of these behavioural changes are currently unknown but highlight the need for a varied set of tools to study the behavioural changes in wildlife. Capsule:The effects of wastewater effluent on the multiple behaviours in the riverine amphipod, Gammarus pulex. Study surprisingly finds very little effects on activity-based behaviours but does find effects of reproductive behaviours.

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Assessment of the Comparative Toxicity of Sewage Effluent from 10 Sewage Treatment Plants in the Area of Sydney, Australia using an Amphipod and Two Sea Urchin Bioassays

Cited by 17 publications

References 4 publications

Direct toxicity assessment of volatile chlorinated hydrocarbon‐contaminated groundwater and derivation of a site‐specific guideline

Direct toxicity assessment of volatile chlorinated hydrocarbon‐contaminated groundwater and derivation of a site‐specific guideline

Toxicity of landfill leachate to sea urchin development with a focus on ammonia

The effects of wastewater effluent on multiple behaviours in the amphipod, Gammarus pulex

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