The effects of various water chemistry parameters on the toxicity of copper to larval fathead minnows were investigated. Increased pH, hardness, sodium, dissolved organic matter, and suspended solids each caused toxicity to decrease on the basis of total copper concentrations. In contrast, added potassium resulted in increased toxicity. Alkalinity had no observed effect on total copper LC50s, but its effects might have been masked by those of the cations added with it. In most cases, the effects of water chemistry were found to be similar for different endpoints (growth, survival at different durations), but there were differences in the relative magnitude of some effects across these endpoints. Over all experimental treatments, 96-h total copper LC50s varied 60-fold. Every water chemistry parameter also caused toxicity to vary significantly when expressed on the basis of cupric ion selective electrode measurements, sometimes more so than on the basis of total copper. Therefore, this study does not support attributing to cupric ion a singular importance in regulating toxicity to this test organism. A variety of copper species might be contributing to toxicity and it is evident that toxicity is also affected by water chemistry in ways not related to copper speciation.

Abstract-The development of sediment quality criteria for the cationic metals cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc has focused on the use of acid-volatile sulfide (AVS) as the primary normalization phase for predicting interstitial pore-water concentrations and bioavailability of the metals. To date, most of the research in support of AVS in this context has utilized short-term laboratory exposures, with a relative paucity of information pertaining to long-term exposures. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the use of AVS as a predictor of metal toxicity to a benthic organism in a long-term laboratory exposure. Clean sediment was spiked with zinc to obtain nominal treatments ranging from Ϫ2.34 to 58.5 g/g dry weight with respect to the molar difference between simultaneously extracted metal (SEM) and AVS. The test was initiated with newly hatched larvae of the midge Chironomus tentans and carried through one complete generation (56 d) during which survival, growth, emergence, and reproduction were monitored. When the molar difference between SEM and AVS (i.e., SEM Ϫ AVS) was Ͻ0, the concentration of zinc in the sediment interstitial water was low and no adverse effects were observed for any of the biological endpoints measured. Conversely, when SEM Ϫ AVS exceeded 0, a dose-dependent increase in the relative concentration of zinc in the pore water was detected. However, the absolute concentration of pore-water zinc at each treatment declined over the course of the study, corresponding to an increase in sediment AVS and to a loss of zinc due to diffusion into the overlying water, which was renewed twice daily. Only when SEM Ϫ AVS exceeded 0 were significant reductions in survival, growth, emergence, and reproduction observed. Together, the chemical and biological data from this study compare favorably with observations made in short-term exposures and thus support the use of AVS as a normalization phase for predicting toxicity in metal-contaminated sediments.

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Acid‐volatile sulfide (AVS) has been proposed as an important partitioning phase determining the bioavailability of cationic metals in sediments. The objective of this research was to evaluate the role of AVS in determining copper toxicity in sediments from two sites heavily contaminated with copper: Steilacoom Lake, Washington, and the Keweenaw Watershed, Michigan. Sediments from the two sites were used in 10‐d toxicity tests with the amphipod Hyalella azteca, and results of the toxicity tests were compared to bioavailability predictions based on copper and AVS concentrations in the test sediments, as well as copper concentrations in the sediment interstitial (pore) water. Normalization of sediment copper concentrations to AVS accurately predicted sediments that were nontoxic when molar copper‐to‐AVS ratios were less than one; however, toxicity also was frequently not observed in samples with molar copper‐to‐AVS ratios significantly greater than one. In contrast, measurement of pore‐water copper concentrations and subsequent comparison of these concentrations to water‐only copper toxicity data for Hyalella azteca resulted in accurate predictions of the presence and extent of copper toxicity in the test sediments. These results indicate that AVS alone is not an appropriate partitioning phase for predicting copper bioavailability in freshwater sediments.

Abstract-The effects of various water chemistry parameters on the toxicity of copper to larval fathead minnows were investigated. Increased pH, hardness, sodium, dissolved organic matter, and suspended solids each caused toxicity to decrease on the basis of total copper concentrations. In contrast, added potassium resulted in increased toxicity. Alkalinity had no observed effect on total copper LC50s, but its effects might have been masked by those of the cations added with it. In most cases, the effects of water chemistry were found to be similar for different endpoints (growth, survival at different durations), but there were differences in the relative magnitude of some effects across these endpoints. Over all experimental treatments, 96-h total copper LC50s varied 60-fold. Every water chemistry parameter also caused toxicity to vary significantly when expressed on the basis of cupric ion selective electrode measurements, sometimes more so than on the basis of total copper. Therefore, this study does not support attributing to cupric ion a singular importance in regulating toxicity to this test organism. A variety of copper species might be contributing to toxicity and it is evident that toxicity is also affected by water chemistry in ways not related to copper speciation.