Silver Contamination in Aquatic Environments

Flegal, A. Russell; Rivera-Duarte, Ignacio; Sañudo‐Wilhelmy, Sergio A.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-2264-4_3

Cited by 11 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…1 and 2). Following exposure to dissolved Ag, the 48‐h LC50 of Ag was 250 nM for cladocerans and 400 nM for copepods, concentrations that are more than four orders of magnitude greater than concentrations in seawater [41] and two to four orders of magnitude above concentrations in most bays, estuaries, and rivers [25]. The cladoceran LC50 was slightly lower than a reported 48‐h LC50 of 324 nM Ag for another cladoceran, Daphnia magna , in river water [42].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sublethal toxic effects on egg production in copepods occurred when food was exposed to 1 nM Ag, a concentration that is only about four times higher than the ∼250 pM levels reported for both the Hudson River Estuary (New York, USA) and South San Francisco Bay (CA, USA) [23–26]. Further, body burdens of Ag that depressed egg production in copepods are only three to four times the Ag body burdens in calanoid copepods in the coastal Mediterranean [28]; we are unaware of any published Ag measurements in freshwater zooplankton samples.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sublethal effects of silver in zooplankton: Importance of exposure pathways and implications for toxicity testing

Hook

Fisher

2001

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

136

106

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In aquatic environments, organisms are exposed to contaminants via direct uptake from water and by trophic transfer. However, most toxicity tests only examine uptake via the dissolved phase. We compared the response of marine and freshwater crustacean zooplankton to silver following dissolved and food exposure. Silver, like other metals, concentrates in aquatic food chains and may exert toxicity. In standard solute exposure toxicity tests, Ag is toxic to zooplankton at concentrations of 400 nM for marine copepods and 100 nM for freshwater cladocerans, concentrations far greater than those in most waters. However, if Ag is accumulated from algal food, reproductive success decreases by >50% when algae are exposed to only 1 nM Ag in copepods and 0.5 nM Ag in cladocerans. These concentrations are within an order of magnitude of those found in contaminated estuaries. Following dietary exposure, decreased egg production and viability occur when tissue Ag concentrations increase three- to fourfold to 0.3 ppm in cladocerans and 0.5 ppm in copepods. Assimilated Ag depresses egg production by reducing yolk protein deposition and ovarian development. Our results indicate that ecologically relevant toxicity tests should consider sublethal effects of contaminants obtained from food since these effects cannot be predicted from exposures to only dissolved contaminants.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sublethal effects of silver in zooplankton: Importance of exposure pathways and implications for toxicity testing

Hook

Fisher

2001

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

136

106

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“…Silver is therefore among the most toxic metals for aquatic organisms; toxicity is frequently observed at nanomolar concentration levels [2]. In pristine aquatic environments, the background Ag concentration is extremely low, typically on the order of picomolar levels [3]. Much higher concentrations (two orders of magnitude) have been documented in many aquatic systems, especially in sediment pore water and in locations with significant sewage input [4–6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Anthropogenic sources of Ag in aquatic environments include sewage discharge, atmospheric deposition following fossil fuel combustion, and other industrial inputs. The benthic flux of Ag from contaminated sediments can also contribute substantially to temporal variations in dissolved Ag concentrations, as shown in San Francisco Bay [3–7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trophic transfer of silver to marine herbivores: A review of recent studies

Fisher

Wang

1998

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Abstract-We review recent progress in understanding the trophic transfer of silver (Ag) in marine herbivores, especially mussels that have been extensively used as biomonitors of coastal contamination. A bioenergetic-based kinetic model is invaluable in predicting the trophic transfer and bioaccumulation of Ag in aquatic animals. Critical parameters that need to be quantified in predicting trophic transfer include Ag assimilation efficiency (AE) from ingested food particles, animal feeding rates, and Ag efflux rates. Silver AEs in marine herbivores are generally low (Ͻ30%). Assimilation efficiencies from ingested sediments tend to be lower than those from ingested phytoplankton. Various biological and chemical factors, including Ag distribution in phytoplankton cytoplasm, gut passage time, importance of intracellular versus extracellular digestion, and metal desorption at lowered pHs typical of invertebrate guts, all influence Ag assimilation from ingested particles. Many experimental studies show that uptake from the dissolved phase exceeds uptake via ingestion in the overall Ag bioaccumulation in aquatic animals. However, these results are probably not predictive of field situations due to their simplistic experimental conditions in which fluctuations of feeding conditions of animals and physicochemistry of Ag are not considered. In mussels, the kinetic model predicts that either the solute or particulate pathway can dominate Ag overall uptake in nature, and this is dependent on Ag partition coefficients for suspended particles and Ag AE. Silver is the only metal that varies substantially in the importance of different uptake pathways due to its very high particle reactivity and high uptake rate from the dissolved phase. Total suspended solids (TSS) loads can sharply affect Ag bioaccumulation in mussels because high TSS loads can dilute Ag concentrations in both dissolved and particulate phases. Processes affecting Ag trophic transfer and bioaccumulation are discussed.

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