Relationships Between Toxicity and Concentrations of Chemical Contaminants in Sediments from Sydney Harbour, Australia, and Vicinity

Abstract

Correlation analyses between measures of toxicity and concentrations of chemical contaminants were conducted for 103 surficial sediments from Sydney Harbour, Australia, and vicinity. Toxicity tests consisted of amphipod survival and reburial tests of whole sediments (Corophium colo), sea urchin fertilisation and larval development tests of pore waters (Heliocidaris tuberculata) and microbial bioluminescence (Microtox) tests of solvent extracts and pore waters. Toxicity in most tests correlated with concentrations of metallic contaminants, in particular, zinc, lead and copper. Organic contaminants did not correlate as significantly with toxicity. However, Heliocidaris tuberculata showed relationships with organochlorine compounds in samples with low to moderate metals contamination. Toxicity in the Microtox solvent extract test appeared to be primarily influenced by the presence of sulfur. This study has no precedent in Australia and the results support the validity of using local indigenous species in toxicity tests of field-collected sediments. This toxicity/chemistry dataset may be used in evaluations of sediment quality guidelines recently introduced to Australia.

Toxicity Assessment by Microtox® in Sediments, Pore Waters and Sediment Saline Elutriates in the Gulf of Gdansk (Baltic Sea)

“…4. These findings are in agreement with several authors who found sediment toxicity related to low redox levels and high levels of sulfides and elemental sulfur generally present in anoxic sediments [6,33,48,49]. High pore water ammonia concentrations can also be inhibitory for Vibrio fischeri bacteria [35].…”

Sources and ecological risk assessment of PAHs in surface sediments from Bohai Sea and northern part of the Yellow Sea, China

“…These two sets of SQGs were based on a compilation of large toxicity data bases for marine organisms and used to assess significant chemistry/toxicity relationships for individual PAHs (Liu et al, 2009a;McCready et al, 2006). Table 1 Concentrations and risk assessment guideline values of PAHs (ng/g dry weight) in surface sediments from BS and NPYS in China.…”

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils from the Central-Himalaya region: Distribution, sources, and risks to humans and wildlife

“…Since the mean risk quotient (m-RQ) could reduce a large amount of chemical data into a single number for mixtures of contaminants (McCready et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2015), the m-RQ was used to assess combined ecological risks of target PAHs in Central Himalayan soils. Based on the SQGs of 11 PAHs (ANT, BaP, FLT, NAP, PHE, BaA, BbF, BkF, DahA, IcdP, and PYR), the m-RQ was calculated by dividing the concentration of each individual PAH by its respective midrange SQG, summing the quotients, and dividing by the total number of all individual PAHs.…”