Comparison of three sediment bioassay methods using detroit river sediments

Abstract

The relative sensitivities and discrimination abilities of the Daphnia magna 48-h lethality assay of sediment pore water, the Photobacterium phosphoreum 15-min bioluminescence inhibition (Microtox@) assay of sediment pore water and the Chironomus tentans 10-d growth reduction assay of whole Detroit River sediments were investigated and predictive relationships developed. While all three assays demonstrated the toxicity of some sediments and all of them identified the most and least toxic sediments, the D. magna lethality assay was the least sensitive and discriminatory. The Microtoxa assay was the most sensitive. Based on lethality, the C. tentans assay was less sensitive than D. magna, but growth inhibition was sensitive and the most discriminatory of the three assays. Chironomids were not observed in the sediments that caused a 30% decrease in growth of C. tentans relative to that on control sediment in which chironomids were observed. This sediment toxicity is also approximately that which kills D. magna. Some locations were deemed very toxic by one or two assays but not toxic by the others. The results of all of the assays were correlated, but none of the assays accurately predicted the results of the other two. It was concluded that the D. magna lethality test could be used to predict which sediments were so toxic that benthic insects would not be expected to be present. A principal components analysis demonstrated that the MicrotoxO assay gave sufficiently different information that it could be included in a battery of sediment toxicity tests designed to accurately classify the toxicities of sediments.

Sediment toxicity assessment using bacterial bioluminescence: effect of an unusual phytoplankton bloom

“…It is a rapid method of comparing and ranking the toxicity of organic extracts of contaminated sediments (Schiewe et al 1985) and is a reliable screening technique for a variety of pollutants in sediments (Williams et al 1986). The results of our assay exhibited a high degree of similarity with other sediment toxicity tests (Giesy et al 1988) and hence this technique can b e used as an exploratory screening test.…”

The Role of Traditional and Novel Toxicity Test Methods in Assessing Stormwater and Sediment Contamination

“…Several studies have attempted to determine dose-response relationships of contaminants either with field collected contaminated samples or through spiking (dosing) at multiple concentrations (Giesy et al, 1988;Nelson et al, 1993). This has proven to be quite difficult, with nonlinear responses frequently resulting no matter which dilution method is used (Nelson et al, 1993).…”

“…Most of the studies showing benthic community and WET test response correlations did not focus on sediment contamination; however, undoubtedly it was a factor at many sites. WET and other sediment toxicity tests results have been "validated" by some and shown to be predictive of population and community-level responses (Canfield et al, 1994(Canfield et al, , 1996Clements, 1997;DeWitt et al, 1992;Giesy et al, 1988;Hickey and Clements, 1998;Maltby and Crane, 1994;Swartz et al, 1985Swartz et al, , 1994Wentsel et al, 1977aWentsel et al, -b, 1978. However, as discussed above, WET tests have been shown to be both predictive and nonpredictive of benthic effects.…”

Comparaison de la sensibilité de deux crustacés :Gammarus gauthierietDaphnia magna, à la toxicité létale des extraits de sédiments de quatre cours d'eau marocains

“…L'emploi des bioessais est une nécessité complémen-taire aux analyses physico-chimiques (Giesy et al 1988a, Lacaze & Paquet 1989. Ces tests doivent répondre à certains critères telles la rapidité, la simplicité, la fiabilité, la sensibilité et ils doivent être réa-lisables durant toute l'année.…”