Journal
ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL
Volume 34, Issue 7, Pages 1023-1032Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2008.03.005
Keywords
sediment; multi-trophic battery; porewater; elutriate
Categories
Funding
- Technology Sector Research: Strand III: Core Research Strengths
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This paper describes the ecotoxicological evaluation of marine sediments from three sites around Ireland representative of a range of contaminant burdens. A comprehensive assessment of potential sediment toxicity requires the consideration of multiple exposure phases. In addition to the evaluation of multiexposure phases the use of a battery of multi-trophic test species has been advocated by a number of researchers as testing of single or few organisms may not detect toxicants with a specific mode of action. The Microtox (R) solid phase test (SPT) and the 10-d acute amphipod test with Corophium volutator were used to assess whole sediment toxicity. Porewater and elutriates were assessed with the Microtox (R) acute test, the marine prasinophyte Tetraselmis suecica, and the marine copepod Tisbe battagliai. Solvent extracts were assayed with the Microtox (R) and T. battagliai acute tests. Alexandra Basin was identified as the most toxic site according to all tests, except the Microtox (R) SPT which identified the Dunmore East site as being more toxic. However, it was not possible to correlate the observed ecotoxicological effects with a specific and/or class of contaminants based on sediment chemistry alone. Therefore porewaters found to elicit significant toxicity (Dunmore East and Alexandra Basin) with the test battery were selected for further TIE assessment with T. battalgiai and the Microtox (R) system. The results of this study have important implications for risk assessment in estuarine and coastal waters in Ireland, where, at present the monitoring of sediment and water quality is predominantly reliant on chemical analysis alone. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available