Greenstein Darrin, Bay Steven, Anderson Brian, Chandler G Thomas, Farrar J Daniel, Keppler Charles, Phillips Bryn, Ringwood Amy, Young Diana
Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, 3535 Harbor Boulevard Suite 110, Costa Mesa, California, 92626, USA.
Environ Toxicol Chem. 2008 Apr;27(4):933-44. doi: 10.1897/07-285.1.
Sublethal test methods are being used with increasing frequency to measure sediment toxicity, but little is known about the relative sensitivity of these tests compared to the more commonly used acute tests. The present study was conducted to compare the sensitivity of several acute and sublethal methods and to investigate their correlations with sediment chemistry and benthic community condition. Six sublethal methods (amphipod: Leptocheirus plumulosus survival, growth, and reproduction; polychaete: Neanthes arenaceodentata survival and growth; benthic copepod: Amphiascus tenuiremis life cycle; seed clam: Mercenaria mercenaria growth; oyster: Crassostrea virginica lysosome destabilization; and sediment-water interface testing with mussel embryos, Mytilus galloprovincialis) and two acute methods (amphipod survival with Eohaustorius estuarius and L. plumulosus) were used to test split sediment samples from stations in California. The test with Amphiascus proved to be the most sensitive sublethal test and the most sensitive overall, identifying 90% of the stations as toxic. The Leptocheirus 10-d test was the most sensitive of the acute tests, identifying 60% of the stations as toxic. In general, the sublethal tests were not more sensitive to sediments than the acute tests, with the sublethal tests finding an average of 35% of the stations to be toxic while the acute found 44%. Of the sublethal tests, only the Amphiascus endpoints and Neanthes growth significantly (p <or= 0.05) correlated with sediment chemical concentrations. Poor correspondence occurred between the toxicity endpoints and the indicators of benthic community condition. Differences in test characteristics such as mode of exposure, species-specific contaminant sensitivity, changes in contaminant bioavailability, and influence of noncontaminant stressors on the benthos may have been responsible for variation in response among the tests and low correspondence with benthic community condition. The influence of these factors cannot be easily predicted, underscoring the need to use multiple toxicity methods, in combination with other lines of evidence, to provide an accurate and confident assessment of sediment toxicity.
亚致死测试方法在测量沉积物毒性方面的使用频率越来越高，但与更常用的急性测试相比，这些测试的相对敏感性却鲜为人知。本研究旨在比较几种急性和亚致死方法的敏感性，并研究它们与沉积物化学性质和底栖生物群落状况的相关性。使用了六种亚致死方法（端足类动物：羽状细螯虾的存活、生长和繁殖；多毛类动物：沙栖新糠虾的存活和生长；底栖桡足类动物：细巧海猛水蚤的生命周期；蚬：硬壳蛤的生长；牡蛎：弗吉尼亚巨蛎溶酶体失稳；以及用贻贝胚胎进行沉积物 - 水界面测试，地中海贻贝）和两种急性方法（用河口真宽水蚤和羽状细螯虾进行端足类动物存活测试）来测试加利福尼亚各站点的分割沉积物样本。事实证明，对细巧海猛水蚤的测试是最敏感的亚致死测试，也是总体上最敏感的测试，识别出90%的站点有毒。对羽状细螯虾进行的10天测试是最敏感的急性测试，识别出60%的站点有毒。总体而言，亚致死测试对沉积物的敏感性并不高于急性测试，亚致死测试发现平均35%的站点有毒，而急性测试发现44%的站点有毒。在亚致死测试中，只有细巧海猛水蚤的终点指标和沙栖新糠虾的生长与沉积物化学浓度显著相关（p≤0.05）。毒性终点指标与底栖生物群落状况指标之间的对应性较差。测试特征的差异，如暴露方式、物种特异性污染物敏感性、污染物生物有效性的变化以及非污染物应激源对底栖生物的影响，可能是导致各测试反应存在差异以及与底栖生物群落状况对应性较低的原因。这些因素的影响难以轻易预测，这突出表明需要使用多种毒性方法，并结合其他证据，以准确、可靠地评估沉积物毒性。
