Toxicity of Surficial Sediments from Sydney Harbour and Vicinity, Australia

Abstract

The toxicological responses of three species to 103 surficial saltwater sediment samples from Sydney Harbour, and coastal lakes and estuaries on the south-east coast of New South Wales, Australia, were tested in a battery of four to six laboratory toxicity tests. This is the first large-scale toxicological study of sediments in Australia, the objective of which is to assess the protective and predictive abilities of North American biological effects-based sediment quality guidelines, recently adopted in Australia. Amphipods were exposed to whole sediments in survival and reburial tests, sea urchin fertilisation and larval development tests were conducted on porewaters, and bacterial bio-luminescence (Microtox) tests were conducted on organic solvent extracts and porewaters. Local indigenous species were used for the amphipod and sea urchin tests (Corophium sp. and Heliocidaris tuberculata, respectively). A wide range of responses, from <25 to 100% of negative controls were observed in all tests. Mean control-adjusted responses ranged from 46 to 96% for all tests. The percentages of highly toxic samples ranged from 11 to 83% in the various tests. The order of test sensitivity was: amphipod survival < Microtox test of porewaters < amphipod reburial < sea urchin larval development < sea urchin fertilisation < Microtox test of solvent extracts. Concordance between toxicity tests in classifying samples as highly toxic or not, ranged from 47 to 79%, indicating some similarities between test results, but not complete equivalence. Combined toxicity test results showed that the incidence of highly toxic responses occurring in the majority of tests (75-100% of tests) was low (5% of samples), but a large percentage of samples had highly toxic results in at least one test (76% of samples). Toxicity was more pervasive in the Sydney region than in coastal lakes and estuaries south of Sydney. The current study demonstrated the utility of indigenous invertebrate species and the Microtox bacterium in a sediment toxicity test battery for Australian saltwater sediments.

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

“…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).…”

“…might be released into the marine environment and are often used as part of a battery of bioassays for monitoring the toxicity of complex mixtures such as effluents, sediment pore water and organic effluent from marine fish farms (Weideborg et al 1997;Fernandez and Beiras 2001;Binet et al 2003;Byrne et al 2003;Doyle et al 2003;McCready et al 2004;Carr et al 2006;Marin et al 2007).…”

“…To ensure that an integrated evaluation of potential environmental toxicity is obtained, chemical analyses are best done in conjunction with bioassays Pollak 1999, 2000;Binet et al 2003;McCready et al 2004). Bioassays are useful to evaluate the overall toxicity of chemical mixtures to the marine environment, since individual components as determined from chemical analyses may have additive, synergistic as well as antagonistic effects on the toxicity of mixtures (Simmons et al 1989;Fernandez and Beiras 2001).…”

“…The tests include the organelle, cell and whole organism biological levels and were chosen for their relevance to the marine environment (sea urchin tests) or because of their time efficiency (bacterial and mitochondrial tests) Pollak 1999, 2000;Binet et al 2003;Byrne et al 2003;McCready et al 2004). The history of the landfill sites and the chemistry and comparative toxicity of the leachates are described in several studies (Binet et al 2003;Byrne et al 2003;Laginestra 2003).…”

“…The history of the landfill sites and the chemistry and comparative toxicity of the leachates are described in several studies (Binet et al 2003;Byrne et al 2003;Laginestra 2003). The chemistry of adjacent marine sediments is also documented (McCready et al 2004;Suh et al 2004). While the marine environment was previously exposed to the landfill aquifers, this is no longer the case (Laginestra 2003).…”