Community responses to liquid creosote and creosote-impregnated pilings witnessed in outdoor aquatic mesocosms

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:442902

Harris, M L; Robinson, R; Shaw, E A; Bestari, K; Solomon, K ^[1]; Day, K ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Guelph, Ontario (Canada). Centre for Toxicology
2. Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario (Canada). Aquatic Ecosystems Conservation Branch

Freshwater mesocosms were used to simulate the effects of creosote on aquatic ecosystems. Twenty-four ponds, each with a total volume of 12,000 L and a 5 cm layer of riverine sediment, were filled and circulated with pond water for at least three weeks to allow the natural colonization of benthic invertebrates, phytoplankton and zooplankton. Potted macrophytes and caged fish were also introduced prior to treatment with either liquid creosote or introduction of creosote-impregnated wood pilings. Dose-dependent changes in phytoplankton and zooplankton diversity and abundance were observed with both forms of treatment relative to controls. Comparatively, benthic invertebrate abundance was only affected by liquid creosote exposure. Although abundance of plankters recovered to pre-treatment values over two to seven weeks in all mesocosms, most parameter suggested the establishment of communities whose species compositions were proportionally altered form those sampled before dosing. In particular, phytoplankton communities in the ponds containing high concentrations of creosote became dominated by a few species of Chlamydomonas, while the equivalent dosed zooplankton communities were dominated by low diversity assemblages of Rotifera. The ramifications of these results for natural freshwater communities exposed to concentrated pulses or low level continuous inputs of creosote will be discussed. The ability to predict these community responses with several measured sub-organismal endpoints will also be evaluated.

• OSTI ID: 442902
• Report Number(s): CONF-961149--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
CREOSOTE
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
PLANKTON
TOXICITY
WATER POLLUTION