ISSN:
1573-2932
Keywords:
effluent toxicity
;
Daphnia magna
;
rainbow trout
;
Toxi-chromotes®
;
bacterial-based toxicity test
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
Notes:
Abstract Over a one year program of intensive monitoring of effluents from Ontario Hydro's nuclear, fossil and hydroelectric generating facilities, theDaphnia magna and rainbow trout,Oncorhynchus mykiss, acute toxicity tests correlated well, with 61 % of the toxic effluents toxic to both species. If the effluent was toxic to only one of the test species it was generally toxic toD. magna, with from 23 to 57% of the toxic effluents toxic toD. magna only. The greater sensitivity ofD. magna to boiler blowdown effluent likely resulted from a combination of the low conductivity of boiler blowdown effluent and the smaller size and greater surface to volume ratio ofD. magna relative to rainbow trout.D. magna were also particularly susceptible to oil/water separator samples, with the daphnids frequently observed to be caught at the surface/water interface. These observations suggest that an accumulation of organic material at the air/water interface was responsible for the mortality ofD. magna. In subsequent tests, we also examined the relationship between theD. magna acute toxicity test and a bacterial-based assay (Toxi-Chromotest®) for several toxic effluents from Ontario Hydro stations to determine if bacterial-based tests could provide similar information in less time with smaller sample volumes. TheD. magma acute toxicity test did not correlate well with the bacterial-based Toxi-chromotest®. In particular, many of the samples which were toxic toD. magna were not toxic to the Toxi-chromotest® assay. The poor correlation between theD. magna and Toxi-chromotese® likely relates to both the relatively low toxicity of many of the effluent samples, and the fact that in many cases toxicity likely resulted from relatively simple combinations of inorganic toxicants. Accordingly, the Toxi-Chromotest® assay would not seem suitable as a surrogate for theD. magna acute toxicity test for our effluents.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00619272
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