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Title: Aqueous-, pore-water-, and sediment-phase cadmium: Toxicity relationships for a meiobenthic copepod

Journal Article · · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry; (United States)
; ;  [1]
  1. Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States). Dept. of Environmental Health Sciences

Comparative effects of aqueous-, pore-water-, and sediment-phase cadmium on mortality of an infaunal laboratory-cultured copepod, Amphiascus tenuiremis, were determined using acute 96-h bioassays. Experimental design included five cadmium concentrations, three replicates per concentration, and 50 adult copepods per replicate for each of the exposure. Exposures included cadmium solubilized in seawater only, whole sediment, and pore water only. In addition, two whole-sediment bioassays were compared in which pore-water cadmium concentrations were altered experimentally but sediment concentrations remained the same. Results of these experiments showed that for Amphiascus tenuiremis, cadmium is most toxic in the aqueous phase, less toxic in the pore-water phase, and last toxic in the sediment-bound phase. The lowered toxicity of cadmium in the pore water was most likely due to complexation of cadmium with DOC, because concentrations of DOC were six times higher in the pore-water phase than in the aqueous phase. In whole sediments, pore-water-phase cadmium was the primary source of acute toxicity, as sediment-associated cadmium contributed negligible effects.

OSTI ID:
7163018
Journal Information:
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry; (United States), Vol. 12:8; ISSN 0730-7268
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English