Updated species sensitivity distribution evaluations for acute and chronic lead toxicity to saltwater aquatic life

Abstract

The US Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) for lead (Pb) in salt water were developed in 1984. The acute and chronic criteria are 210 and 8.1 μg/L dissolved Pb, respectively. Because data were limited in 1984, the chronic criterion was derived using an acute-to-chronic ratio, but there are now sufficient toxicity data such that an acute-to-chronic ratio is no longer needed. Based on the data now available, the proposed updated acute and chronic salt water Pb AWQC (following USEPA methods) are 100 and 10 µg/L, respectively. In the European Union, a chronic salt water predicted no-effect concentration based on the median 5th percentile hazardous concentration (HC5-50) was developed in 2008 for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals program, which forms the basis for deriving chronic environmental quality standards for Pb in European marine waters. The salt water HC5-50 previously derived for Pb was 6.1 μg/L, whereas the proposed, updated chronic salt water HC5-50 derived following European Union methods is 11.0 µg/L. Thus, despite differences in derivation methodologies, the proposed AWQC and HC5-50 values are very consistent. Studies evaluating the effect of water quality factors on bioavailability and toxicity of Pb in salt water are limited; the effect of water quality on Pb toxicity in salt water should be considered in future studies. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:2974-2980. © 2017 SETAC.

Chronic Exposure to Low Concentration Lead Chloride-Induced Anxiety and Loss of Aggression and Memory in Zebrafish

“…In general, this study determined the potential ecotoxicity of long-term lead exposure in adult zebrafish through multiple behavioral assessments. The significant findings were that even at a low concentration, long-term exposure to lead could impair the memory and cause a decrease in the aggressiveness and exploratory activities of zebrafish, which may reduce their survival fitness.(EC10/NOEC-usually more than 14 days) on fish range from 18 to 1559 µg/L and 44 to 437 µg/L, respectively [3,4].More evidence has shown the detrimental impacts of lead on human health, especially at a neurobehavioral level. The neurotoxicity of chronic exposure to low concentrations of lead can impair cognitive performance in childhood through to adulthood [5][6][7][8][9].…”

Chronic effects of lead exposure on topsmelt fish (Atherinops affinis): Influence of salinity, organism age, and relative sensitivity to other marine species

“…Results show that A. affinis is the second most sensitive to Pb after Americamysis bahia and fell in the 20th percentile of the distribution (Figure ). When incorporating our toxicity value (LC10) into the SSD for chronic exposure to marine fish by Church et al () without taking the influence of salinity and organism age into account, the distribution percentile for A. affinis was approximately 25%. Atherinops affinis was less sensitive to Pb than Champia parvula , A. bahia , and Mytilus trossolus but was more sensitive to Pb than many other species, such as Cyprinodon variegatus , Dunaliella tertiolecta , Mytilus galloprovincialis , Neanthes arenaceodantata , and Strongylocentrus purpuratus .…”

“…Increased environmental salinity yields fewer interactions between Pb and biotic ligands at the gills due to a cation competition. This competition potentially makes Pb less bioavailable to aquatic organisms and, therefore, decreases toxicity (Church et al ; DeForest et al ). However, based on a review summary by Church et al (), approximately 72% of the chronic Pb toxicity data were for vertebrate and invertebrate species and at salinity ≥30 ppt.…”

“…Most published Pb toxicity research has been conducted with acute exposures and freshwater organisms (Pyatt et al 2002;Grosell et al 2006;Parametrix 2010;Mager et al 2010Mager et al , 2011Brix et al 2012;Munley et al 2013;International Lead Association 2017). Literature data for chronic toxicity of Pb on marine organisms are limited, in part due to the low solubility of Pb in marine waters (Taylor et al 1985;Denton and Jones 1986;Angel et al 2016;Church et al 2017). In freshwater, Pb primarily exists as the divalent cation (Pb 2þ ) under acidic conditions, and forms Pb carbonate and hydroxide under alkaline conditions.…”

“…This competition potentially makes Pb less bioavailable to aquatic organisms and, therefore, decreases toxicity DeForest et al 2017). However, based on a review summary by Church et al (2017), approximately 72% of the chronic Pb toxicity data were for vertebrate and invertebrate species and at salinity !30 ppt. Studies at salinity between 20 and 30 ppt accounted for only 27%.…”