A non-lethal chemically based approach to investigate the quality of harbour sediments

Hellou, Jocelyne; Cheeseman, Kerri; Desnoyers, Elaine; Johnston, Dawn; Jouvenelle, Marie-Laure; Leonard, Jim; Robertson, Stewart A.; Walker, Peter B.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.08.010

Cited by 31 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The lowest per cent of harbour sediment mixed with the amphipods’ native sediments and generating an escape response were then used in exposures and the animals analysed. The sum of detected PAH in tissue extracts were of 0.3–1.1 nmol/g or about 1,000 times lower than those associated with LC 50 (Hellou et al 2008, 2009b). This difference in body burden explained why animals did not perish when exposed to harbour sediments and demonstrated that avoidance is 1,000 times more sensitive than survival.…”

Section: Research Integrating Body Residue and Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Behaviour is slowly gaining more recognition due to its 10–1,000 times higher sensitivity than the conventional LC 50 (Hellou et al 2008; Robinson 2009). Behaviour is an organism-level effect defined as the action, reaction or functioning of a system under a set of specific circumstances.…”

Section: Behavioural Toxicologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animals were examined for their preference between two choices, the pristine or harbour-derived mixed sediment. Avoidance was detected above a narrow range of PAH in sediments (Hellou et al 2008). In the case of five out of seven sediments collected near numerous raw sewage discharges, amphipods avoided sediment containing PAH at concentrations labelled as “probable effects levels” (>50% probability of toxicity) by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (Hellou et al 2002, 2005) sediment quality guidelines.…”

Section: Research Integrating Body Residue and Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Their body burden was two to seven times lower than observed with the avoided harbour sediments. This difference would likely mean that there are more chemicals available from the sediments that are associated with the escape (Hellou et al 2008, 2009b). Numerous other non-ionic hydrophobic or lipophilic EC are discharged in sewage effluents, such as phthalate esters, non-ylphenol ethoxylates, musks, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, other fluorinated and chlorinated chemicals, as well as EDR.…”

Section: Research Integrating Body Residue and Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Behavioural ecotoxicology, an “early warning” signal to assess environmental quality

Hellou

2010

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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266

154

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BackgroundIn this review, the position of behavioural ecotoxicology within the available means to assess the status of marine environments is described as filling the gap for the needed “early warning” signals. A few examples of studies performed since the 1960s are discussed to highlight the sensitivity of these approaches in investigating the effects of chemicals, including priority pollutants and emerging contaminants, relative to conventional toxicity tests measuring survival.DiscussionThe advantage of the behavioural response is due to the integration of biochemical and physiological processes that reflect changes at higher levels of organisation with ecological relevance. Avoidance often represents a behavioural symptom easily detected in many animals exposed to contaminants and would be a useful test to explore more widely. This rapid response would reflect a defence mechanism protective against further exposure and the potential development of more pronounced deleterious effects, whilst in some cases, escape could lead to the relocation of a species with negative consequences. An investigation of the avoidance behaviour of mud shrimp, Corophium volutator, along with the chemical analyses of sediments and amphipods to assess the quality of harbour sediments is summarised. The body burden of the amphipods was 1,000 times lower than the one associated with narcosis, emphasizing the sensitivity of this endpoint. The application of this acute toxicity test is briefly compared to additional work that involved intertidal mussels collected in the field.ConclusionsRecent research undertaken with mud snails, Ilyanassa obsoleta, and harbour sediments confirmed the usefulness of the escape behaviour as an assessment tool. However, the limits of the state of knowledge regarding the fate of contaminants in species with the ability to metabolise contaminants is further discussed along with directions to be pursued to address questions arising from the reviewed literature.

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Section: Research Integrating Body Residue and Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Behavioural Toxicologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Integrating Body Residue and Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Integrating Body Residue and Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Behavioural ecotoxicology, an “early warning” signal to assess environmental quality

Hellou

2010

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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266

154

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“…Recently, the behavioural response of C. volutator towards contaminated field sediments was used in our laboratory to compare the bioavailability of harbour contaminants (Hellou et al 2005(Hellou et al , 2008. Concentrations of abundant organic priority pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons corresponding to the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment sediment quality guidelines were associated with levels initiating the amphipods' avoidance of harbour sediments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of the partitioning of pesticides relative to the survival and behaviour of exposed amphipods

et al. 2008

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Pesticides sprayed on farmlands can end up in rivers and be transported into estuaries, where they could affect aquatic organisms in freshwater and marine habitats. A series of experiments were conducted using the amphipod Corophium volutator Pallas (Amphipoda, Corophiidae) and single pesticides, namely atrazine (AT), azinphos-methyl (AZ), carbofuran (CA) and endosulfan (EN) that were added to sediments and covered with seawater. Our goal was to compare the concentrations affecting the survival of the animals relative to potential attractant or repellent properties of sediment-spiked pesticides. The avoidance/preference of contaminated/reference sediments by amphipods was examined after 48 and 96 h of exposure using sediments with different organic carbon content. The octanol-water partition coefficients (log K(ow)) ranked the pesticides binding to sediments as EN > AZ > AT > CA. LC(50) and LC(20) covered a wide range of nominal concentrations and ranked toxicity as CA-AZ > EN > AT. Under the experimental set up, only EN initiated an avoidance response and the organic carbon normalised concentration provided consistent results. Using the present data with wide confidence limits, >20% of a population of C. volutator could perish due to the presence of EN before relocation or detecting CA or AZ in sediments by chemical analysis.

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Avoidance tests as a tool to detect sublethal effects of oil-impacted sediments

Szczybelski¹,

Kampen²,

Vromans³

et al. 2018

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

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Currently, risk assessment for oil contamination does not consider behavioral responses of benthos to oil toxicity. Avoidance of oil-contaminated sediment by benthic amphipods, however, may be a highly sensitive endpoint for sublethal effects of commonly used distillate fuels. In the present study, the avoidance behavior of temperate freshwater (Gammarus pulex) and marine (Gammarus locusta) amphipods was tested by allowing them to choose between a reference sediment and a distillate marine grade A (DMA) oil-spiked sediment. Avoidance of DMA-spiked sediment at 1000 mg/kg dry weight was significant within the total exposure time (96 h) in G. pulex and within the first 72 h in G. locusta in 1 of 2 tests. Absence of DMA avoidance at lower concentrations (≤250 mg/kg dry wt) indicates that test species can only detect DMA above these concentrations. However, sensitivity to oil may vary according to the phenology and physiological conditions of the populations involved, such as the species temperature tolerance and reproductive stage. The results suggest that avoidance tests may be used as an alternative to traditional chronic toxicity tests provided that a causal link between avoidance and long-term effects can be established. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:1757-1766. © 2018 SETAC.

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A non-lethal chemically based approach to investigate the quality of harbour sediments

Cited by 31 publications

References 41 publications

Behavioural ecotoxicology, an “early warning” signal to assess environmental quality

Behavioural ecotoxicology, an “early warning” signal to assess environmental quality

Comparison of the partitioning of pesticides relative to the survival and behaviour of exposed amphipods

Avoidance tests as a tool to detect sublethal effects of oil-impacted sediments

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