Development of marine sediment bioassays and toxicity tests for monitoring and regulation in Europe
There is a need in Europe and elsewhere for a broad suite of whole-sediment bioassays and toxicity tests which can be used for routine monitoring and assessment of the marine environment and for evaluating the toxic effects of chemicals which may find their way into sediments. Until recently, few European species had been incorporated into such tests but the availability of suitable methodologies is now increasing rapidly. Perhaps the most important recent activity in this area consisted of an international ring test of acute sediment toxicity test methods which was organized by the Oslo and Paris Commissions in 1993, using up to 4 offshore chemicals as test materials. It evaluated the performance of 4 acute (5--10 day) tests involving: the sea urchin Echinocardium cordatum, the bivalve mollusc Abra alba, the amphipod crustacean Corophium volutator, and the polychaete worm Arenicola marina. The ring test concluded that the C. volutator test was the most appropriate for evaluating offshore chemicals, but all these methods are now widely used in Europe, both as toxicity tests and as bioassays. For example, the A. marina procedure (which has both lethal and sublethal endpoints), in combination with the C. volutator method, is now routinely used in the UK for monitoring the toxicity of estuarine sediments. Further activities are in progress. Perhaps the most important is the development of chronic marine sediment tests and bioassays which can be used to assess the long-term effects of the many sedimentary contaminants which are able to persist in this type of habitat and possibly cause delayed effects on the growth and reproduction, etc. of benthic fauna.
- OSTI ID:
- 191298
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9610%%299
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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