Acute and chronic toxicity of nickel to marine organisms: Implications for water quality criteria

Abstract

Acute and chronic toxicity tests were conducted to determine the effects of nickel on three U.S. west coast marine species: a fish (the topsmelt, Atherinops affinis), a mollusk (the red abalone, Haliotis rufescens), and a crustacean (the mysid, Mysidopsis intii). The 96-h median lethal concentration (LC50) for topsmelt was 26,560 microg/L, and the chronic value for the most sensitive endpoint in a 40-d exposure was 4,270 microg/L. The median effective concentration (EC50) for 48-h abalone larval development was 145.5 microg/L, and the chronic value for juvenile growth in a 22-d exposure through larval metamorphosis was 26.43 microgAL. The mysid 96-h LC50 was 148.6 microg/L, and the chronic value for the most sensitive endpoint in a 28-d, whole life-cycle exposure was 22.09 microg/L. The abalone and mysid acute values were lower than other values available in the literature. Acute-to-chronic ratios for nickel toxicity to the three species were 6.220, 5.505, and 6.727, respectively, which were similar to the only other available saltwater value of 5.478 (for Americamysis [Mysidopsis] bahia) and significantly lower than the existing values of 35.58 and 29.86 for freshwater organisms. Incorporation of data from the present study into calculations for water quality criteria would lower the criterion maximum concentration and raise the criterion continuous concentration for nickel.

Development of Site-Specific Water Quality Criteria for the Arpa Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant in Tipalao Bay, Guam

“…The final acute-to-chronic ratio (FACR) was based on the comparison of acute and chronic responses for saltwater species for which test data were available. The FACR of 5.96 was used to derive the chronic criterion (Hunt et al, 2002). The final data set consists of toxicity values for 45 species in 37 families (Figure 4.2).…”

“…Other than an update to express these guidelines as dissolved concentrations (74 and 8.2, µg/L, respectively), there has been no official update to that guidance, even though considerably more qualifying toxicity data are available. Some of the more recent contributions have been used to update the criterion include a peer-reviewed journal article that provides additional acute and chronic toxicity data, thereby updating the data set both in terms of numbers of genera represented, and towards calculation of a more robust acute-chronic ratio (Hunt et al, 2002). More recently, a study was conducted to develop a chronic species sensitivity distribution (SSD), further summarizing qualifying toxicity data that could be integrated into a USEPA standard (DeForest and Schlekat, 2013).…”

“…Later, conversion to dissolved concentrations for ambient water quality criteria resulted in slightly lower values of 8.2 and 74 µg/L, respectively, using a 0.99 conversion factor for nickel. In 2002, new saltwater toxicity data for nickel were made available (Hunt et al, 2002), providing additional data for three North American west coast marine species (topsmelt, red abalone, and mysids) for both acute and chronic exposures. This enlarged the USEPA data set, somewhat altered the four most sensitive genera due to greater sensitivity for some species (Table 4-2), and provided for a more robust ACR.…”

“…The addition of ACRs for the red abalone H. rufescens (5.505), the mysid Mysidopsis intii (6.727), and topsmelt Atherinops affinis (6.220) resulted in a geometric mean of 5.960 when including the previously established ACR for A. bahia. The net result of the Hunt et al (2002) study was a slight lowering of the CMC due to the addition of more sensitive species to the SSD, but an increase in the CCC due to the use of a more robust saltwater ACR (Table 4-2). More recently, a study was conducted to generate a SSD based on chronic toxicity data developed primarily within the last 10 years (DeForest and Schlekat, 2013).…”

“…This species does not occur at Guam; however, the data for Haliotis was added to the data set due to the presence of other species in the genera Haliotis at Guam (Smith, 2003), and because of its use to generate a more robust FACR by Hunt et al (2002). The SMAV is 145.5 µg/L (dissolved nickel), for this species.…”