The Effect of Mercury and PCBs on Organisms from Lower Trophic Levels of a Georgia Salt Marsh

Wall, Julie

doi:10.1007/s002440010143

Cited by 22 publications

References 43 publications

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Macrophytes as Biomonitors of Polychlorinated Biphenyls

et al. 2004

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Biomonitoring is the use of organisms in situ to identify and quantify toxicants in an environment. This technique takes advantage of the ability of organisms to accumulate contaminants in their tissues through bioaccumulation and bioconcentration. In general, three historical stages exist in the biomonitoring with plants, based on the use of different parameters: (a) various physiological, morphological, and community parameters; (b) environmental concentrations of pollutants in plant tissues; and (c) early warning systems or biomarkers (histological, biochemical, or genetic). Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are one of the more ubiquitous and toxic organic pollutants. PCBs are very hydrophobic contaminants and preferentially adsorb onto sediment particles. Depending on their morphology, aquatic macrophytes grow at the interface of distinct environments, such as water, sediment, and air. Despite not many studies being conducted using aquatic macrophytes for biomonitoring PCBs in freshwater ecosystem—as evidenced by a lack of literature reports—research under field conditions have demonstrated that rooted macrophytes play a crucial role in the removal of PCBs from the environment, not only accumulating but transforming them. For this reason, phytoremediation has been proposed as an alternative or complementary technique to treat sediment polluted by PCBs, but still needs much basic research.

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Macrophytes as Biomonitors of Polychlorinated Biphenyls

et al. 2004

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

Łukawska‐Matuszewska

Burska

Niemirycz³

2009

CLEAN Soil Air Water

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The toxicity of sediments in the Gulf of Gdansk is analyzed in relation to the chemical composition of interstitial and near-bottom waters, and sediment properties. The toxicity of sediments, pore waters and saline elutriates is determined by using the Microtoxm test based on changes in light production of the luminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri. The results indicate considerable toxicity in the majority of examined sediments. Since the sediment elutriates and pore waters are toxic in some cases, the total toxicity of the sediments is likely to be due to both sediment-bound and water soluble substances. The sediment toxicity is related to the percentage contribution of the fine fraction of sediments. A significant correlation between the toxicity of the sediments and the black carbon content implies anthropogenic contamination. The toxicity of the sediments is seen to increase with the increase of hydrogen sulfide concentration in pore waters. The ammonia in pore waters was found not to be responsible for the toxicity of the sediments.

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Critical review of mercury sediment quality values for the protection of benthic invertebrates

Conder

Fuchsman

Grover

et al. 2014

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Sediment quality values (SQV) are commonly used-and misused-to characterize the need for investigation, understand causes of observed effects, and derive management strategies to protect benthic invertebrates from direct toxic effects. The authors compiled more than 40 SQVs for mercury, nearly all of which are "co-occurrence" SQVs derived from databases of paired chemistry and benthic invertebrate effects data obtained from field-collected sediment. Co-occurrence SQVs are not derived in a manner that reflects cause-effect, concentration-response relationships for individual chemicals such as mercury, because multiple potential stressors often co-occur in the data sets used to derive SQVs. The authors assembled alternative data to characterize mercury-specific effect thresholds, including results of 7 laboratory studies with mercury-spiked sediments and 23 studies at mercury-contaminated sites (e.g., chloralkali facilities, mercury mines). The median (AE interquartile range) co-occurrence SQVs associated with a lack of effects (0.16 mg/kg [0.13-0.20 mg/kg]) or a potential for effects (0.88 mg/kg [0.50-1.4 mg/kg]) were orders of magnitude lower than no-observed-effect concentrations reported in mercury-spiked toxicity studies (3.3 mg/kg [1.1-9.4 mg/kg]) and mercury site investigations (22 mg/kg [3.8-66 mg/kg]). Additionally, there was a high degree of overlap between co-occurrence SQVs and background mercury levels. Although SQVs are appropriate only for initial screening, they are commonly misused for characterizing or managing risks at mercury-contaminated sites. Spiked sediment and site data provide more appropriate and useful alternative information for characterization and management purposes. Further research is recommended to refine mercury effect thresholds for sediment that address the bioavailability and causal effects of mercury exposure. Environ Toxicol Chem 2015;34:6-21. # 2014 SETAC

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The Effect of Mercury and PCBs on Organisms from Lower Trophic Levels of a Georgia Salt Marsh

Cited by 22 publications

References 43 publications

Macrophytes as Biomonitors of Polychlorinated Biphenyls

Macrophytes as Biomonitors of Polychlorinated Biphenyls

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

Critical review of mercury sediment quality values for the protection of benthic invertebrates

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