Marine and estuarine porewater toxicity testing -- species and end point comparisons

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:49524

Carr, R S; Chapman, D C; Biedenbach, J M; Robertson, L ^[1]

---

1. NBS, Corpus Christi, TX (United States). NFCR Field Research Station

As part of their continuing development and evaluation of the porewater toxicity test approach for assessing the quality of marine and estuarine sediments, a variety of studies involving species and endpoint comparisons as well as validation studies have recently been conducted. The results from numerous extensive sediment quality assessment surveys have demonstrated that porewater toxicity tests are considerably more sensitive than the standard solid-phase tests and invariably exhibit a higher degree of concordance with sediment quality assessment guidelines than the standard tests. Species that have been evaluated for use in testing marine and estuarine pore water include a life-cycle test with the polychaete Dinophilus gyrociliatus, survival and hatching success with embryo-larval stages of red drum Sciaaenops ocellatus, survival of nauplii stages of the harpacticoid copepod Longipedia sp., and three different assays (fertilization, embryological development, and cytogenetic) with the sea urchin Arbacia punctulata. The different species and end points have been compared using sediment pore water from a variety of contaminated sites. Although the results of tests with the different species and end points were often comparable, in general, the sea urchin embryological development assay appears to be the most sensitive porewater test evaluated thus far in their laboratory.

• OSTI ID: 49524
• Report Number(s): CONF-9410273--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
ANNELIDS
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
CRUSTACEANS
ESTUARIES
FISHES
GENETIC VARIABILITY
INTERSTITIAL WATER
SEA URCHINS
SEAS
SEDIMENTS
SENSITIVITY
WATER POLLUTION