Environ Toxicol Chem. 2021 Jul 8. doi: 10.1002/etc.5152. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Deriving water quality criteria (WQC) for aquatic risk assessment, requires sufficient toxicity data, which can determine the accuracy of WQC. Given that toxicity data varies between test species and endpoints, there is a great need to compare such data to generate the most suitable data set for WQC derivation. In this study, a series of 11 ammonia exposure bioassays were conducted on Chironomidae species in either China or Australia, with test species and test endpoints varied (2 Chironomus sp., enzymatic up to lethal endpoints, and NOEC up to LC50 as endpoint metrics). It was found that there were no statistically significant differences between toxicity results generated from China compared to Australia using Chironomus sp., indicating that published data on native species generated in different countries could be appropriate for inclusion in the development of local Chinese WQC. In addition, Chironomidae larvae laboratory-based toxicity value (LC50 of 384.6 mg/L) was lower than that of the in situ field-based toxicity value (LC50 ≥ 451.2 mg/L) where sensitive life stages are used and, specifically for C. riparius, endpoints linked to biochemical and gene expression effects could be as sensitive, or more sensitive than chronic endpoints, both of which were more sensitive than acute endpoints. These findings help in the development of WQC by demonstrating the suitability of inclusion of toxicity data from a range of sources, as well as adding to the overall pool of knowledge regarding sensitivity to ammonia which can be used in aquatic risk assessment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
PMID:34236106 | DOI:10.1002/etc.5152
