Species sensitivity distribution evaluation for chronic nickel toxicity to marine organisms

Abstract

In Europe, the European Union's Existing Substances Regulation (EEC 793/93), the REACH Regulation, and Water Framework Directive all share common guidance for conducting environmental effects assessments, which can be further used to derive predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) and environmental quality standards (EQS) for chemical substances. To meet the criteria for using a species sensitivity distribution (SSD) in the effects assessment of Ni for marine organisms, chronic toxicity data from the published scientific literature were augmented with toxicity testing of several additional marine species including: a unicellular alga (Dunalliela tertiolecta), a diatom (Skeletonema costatum), 2 macroalgae (Champia parvula, Macrocystis pyrifera), 2 mollusks (Crassostrea gigas, Mytilus galloprovincialis), 2 echinoderms (Dendraster excentricus, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus), a polychaete (Neanthes arenaceodentata), and a fish (Cyprinodon variegatus). Based on this updated database, which includes chronic Ni toxicity data for a total of 17 marine species, HC5 values (hazardous concentrations to 5% of the species) were derived using an SSD. The most sensitive species is a tropical sea urchin from the Caribbean region, Diadema antillarum, which has an EC10 that is approximately 6-fold less than the EC10 for the second most sensitive species tested. There is some uncertainty in the representativeness of D. antillarum to temperate European marine waters because 1) a European sea urchin species (Paracentrotus lividus) is approximately 48-fold less sensitive to Ni, and (2) ambient marine Ni concentrations in at least some European waters closely approach the D. antillarum EC10. The HC5 values with and without D. antillarum included in the SSD are 3.9 and 20.9 μg/L, respectively. Site-specific toxicity testing with local species may be warranted for locations where Ni concentrations fall between the range in HC5s of 3.9 to 20.9 μg/L.

A review of nickel toxicity to marine and estuarine tropical biota with particular reference to the South East Asian and Melanesian region

“…This value is similar to that originally derived by NiPERA in 2012. Based on the data compiled in this review, the HC5 value calculated for nickel in tropical marine waters (16 µg Ni L -1 )is similar to that derived by DeForest and Schlekat (2013) for European marine waters, but slightly higher than the Australian and U.S. HC5 for temperate marine waters. Acknowledging that this is a limited dataset, this suggests that temperate and tropical species have similar sensitivities to nickel (based on chronic data).…”

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

“…embryos to nickel (Bielmyer et al, 2005;DeForest and Schlekat, 2013) led to the development of Guam/Marianas relevant toxicity data that meet USEPA criteria (USEPA, 1985). Diadema savignyi was indeed the most sensitive in the site-specific data set, and strongly influenced the site-specific criterion calculation, as did increased robustness of the data set and the inclusion of an improved FACR.…”

“…The nickel data derived here for D. savignyi corroborate recent reports of relatively high sensitivity of embryonic stages of sea urchins of the genus Diadema. The Caribbean long-spined sea urchin (D. antillarum) EC50 for nickel was reported as only 15 µg/L (Bielmyer et al, 2005), and is the most sensitive species in a nickel species sensitivity distribution (SSD) recently derived using chronic endpoints for 17 species of invertebrates, fish, and algae (Deforest and Schlekat, 2013). The nickel EC50s for Diadema spp.…”

“…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 data set provides more USEPA qualifying data for updating the national criterion (USEPA, 1986).…”

“…The dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration was quantified for the Pago Bay dilution water, as DOC increasingly plays an important role in modeling of metal toxicity (Arnold 2005;Arnold et al, 2006;Deforest and Schlekat, 2013). We filtered seawater through 0.7-µm nominal pore size precombusted glass fiber filters and immediately transferred to 125-mL amber glass bottles containing 8-µL 85% H 3 -PO 4 .…”