Costa F O, Correia A D, Costa M H
Dep. de Ciencias e Eng. do Ambiente, FCT/Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Monte de Caparica, Portugal.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 1998 May-Jun;40(1-2):81-7. doi: 10.1006/eesa.1998.1646.
Although amphipod toxicity tests have been successfully used in the United States to assess coastal sediment toxicity, few tests have been developed with European species. The authors have been working with the amphipod Gammarus locusta, a widely spread species along European coastal areas that is particularly abundant in the Portuguese Sado estuary. This amphipod fulfills the most important requirements of a test species. It can be easily reproduced in laboratory and it is tolerant to a broad range of sediment types. A series of tests demonstrated its sensitivity to copper and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (lindane) in the sediment (LC50 = 6.8 mg Cu/dry kg, 0.9% total volatile solids; LC50 = 60.5 micrograms HCH/dry kg, 2% total volatile solids) and to some heavily contaminated field sediments. After assessment of the species sensitivity to several noncontaminant variables, an experimental protocol was designed to conduct acute sediment toxicity tests that are briefly described. Proposed is a 10-day static toxicity test at 15 degrees C and 33-34/1000 salinity, with laboratory-produced juveniles and mortality as the endpoint. General assay performance is identical to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard for sediment toxicity tests with marine and estuarine amphipods. The results previously obtained revealed a strong potential for this amphipod to be used in toxicological testing. Considering the wide geographic distribution of this species and its amenability for culturing, it may be an alternative or complementary test for ecotoxicological studies in other European coastal systems where the existing tests cannot be applied or do not offer a definitive solution.
虽然在美国，端足类毒性测试已成功用于评估沿海沉积物毒性，但针对欧洲物种开展的此类测试却很少。作者一直在研究端足类动物欧洲沼虾，这是一种在欧洲沿海地区广泛分布的物种，在葡萄牙萨多河口尤为丰富。这种端足类动物满足测试物种的最重要要求。它可以在实验室中轻松繁殖，并且能耐受多种沉积物类型。一系列测试表明，它对沉积物中的铜和γ-六氯环己烷（林丹）敏感（半数致死浓度分别为6.8毫克铜/干千克，总挥发性固体含量0.9%；60.5微克六氯环己烷/干千克，总挥发性固体含量2%），对一些严重污染的现场沉积物也敏感。在评估了该物种对几个非污染变量的敏感性后，设计了一个实验方案来进行急性沉积物毒性测试，下面简要描述。建议在15摄氏度和盐度33 - 34‰的条件下进行为期10天的静态毒性测试，以实验室培育的幼体和死亡率作为终点指标。一般的测定性能与美国材料与试验协会（ASTM）针对海洋和河口端足类动物的沉积物毒性测试标准相同。先前获得的结果表明，这种端足类动物在毒理学测试中有很大的应用潜力。考虑到该物种广泛的地理分布及其易于养殖的特性，在其他现有测试无法应用或无法提供明确解决方案的欧洲沿海系统中，它可能是生态毒理学研究的一种替代或补充测试。
