Selection of a suitable cladoceran species for toxicity testing in turbid waters

Abstract

Two Australian cladocerans, Moina australiensis Sars and a species oi Ceriodaphnia, were evaluated as possible biological indicator organisms to assess the toxicity of irrigation supply and drainage water of the Murrumbidgee and Coleambally Irrigation Areas, M. australiensis, being large (-2000 /um) and orange, was initially chosen to overcome visibility problems in highly turbid Australian inland waters. However, the organism responded erratically in culture. Mortality was high and neonate production was unpredictable when cultured under recommended United States Environmental Protection Agency protocols. Attempts to improve culture performance by optimizing food (quality and quantity), water (control source, hardness, volume) and temperature were only marginally successful. Similar difficulties were not evident when Ceriodaphnia sp, was used as the test organism. Although Ceriodaphnia sp, is small (-1000 /xm), grey and more difficult to see in turbid water its responses were more predictable and reliable than those of M. australiensis. Results of initial trials comparing the two organisms suggest that Ceriodaphnia sp, was a better test organism and more suited to local requirements.

Application of Ceriodaphnia Dubia for Whole Effluent Toxicity Tests in the Hawkesbury–nepean Watershed, New South Wales, Australia: Method Development and Validation

“…Chem. 19, 2000 93 the Sydney clone exposed in test volumes ranging between 40 and 200 ml and others have reported satisfactory results for tests conducted in 15-ml volumes with the Sydney clone [10][11]. In summary, our results suggest that the Sydney clone can be reliably cultured and tested using the methods described herein, which are based on Environment Canada and U.S. EPA guidelines.…”

“…However, they noted that further improvements could be made with respect to diet and water in order to achieve consistently acceptable survival and reproductive performance. Moreover, subsequent studies conducted with this species used a variety of test and culture methods [10][11][12][13]. Consequently, our objective was to further evaluate the effects of container size and volume, diet, and dilution water on the survival and reproduction of the Sydney clone with the goal of validating existing procedures widely used in Canada and the United States.…”

Application ofCeriodaphnia dubiafor whole effluent toxicity tests in the hawkesbury–nepean watershed, New South Wales, Australia: Method development and validation

“…This conclusion is in agreement with Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development guidelines for acute toxicity tests with daphnids, which indicate that as little as 2 ml per organism is an acceptable test volume [27]. Moreover, Julli et al [9] reported no difference in survival or reproduction of the Sydney clone exposed in test volumes ranging between 40 and 200 ml and others have reported satisfactory results for tests conducted in 15‐ml volumes with the Sydney clone [10–11].…”

“…However, they noted that further improvements could be made with respect to diet and water in order to achieve consistently acceptable survival and reproductive performance. Moreover, subsequent studies conducted with this species used a variety of test and culture methods [10–13]. Consequently, our objective was to further evaluate the effects of container size and volume, diet, and dilution water on the survival and reproduction of the Sydney clone with the goal of validating existing procedures widely used in Canada and the United States.…”

Development and testing of a rapid appraisal wetland condition index in south-eastern Australia

“…comm.). With- (Anderson-Carnahan et al, 1995) and also reflect alteration in submerged aquatic out prior knowledge of the rankings based on the long-term data, the 10 wetlands were vegetation because chydorid cladocerans are reserves and stock routes, so it was not possible to obtain information on the frequency of algal blooms from land owners. Information on colour was not available owing to a mix-up with samples.…”