TA3 Metals in the Environment: Aquatic Biological Perspectives
254 Portland Ballroom
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Tuesday
() Marine water quality criteria development: the chronic toxicity of silver to sea urchins, Arbacia punctulata.
Boeri, R.1, Ward, T.1, Hogstrand, C.2, Kramer, J.3, Lussier, S.4, Stubblefield, W.5, Gorsuch, J.5, 1 T.R. Wilbury Laboratories, Inc., Marblehead, MA2 Kings College London, London3 McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario4 U.S. EPA, Narragansett, RI5 Parametrix, Inc., Corvallis, OR
ABSTRACT- A series of tests to investigate the toxicity of silver in seawater to three life stages of the sea urchin, Arbacia punctulata was performed. The tests were conducted as part of a study to generate chronic data in support of the derivation of a marine silver ambient water quality criterion and for use in the validation of the free-ion activity and biotic ligand models. A standard sea urchin sperm cell bioassay (one-hour sperm exposure followed by two hours of combined sperm and egg exposure) was followed by an embryo toxicity test conducted for 48 hours under static conditions. A flow-through exposure to adult sea urchins was conducted for 30 days. The concentrations of free ionic silver (Ag+) were determined at the start of the fertilization test, the start and end of the embryo test, and weekly during the adult toxicity test by means of direct measurement using a silver-selective electrode. Dissolved and total silver concentrations were also measured. See Kramer et al. for the chemical aspects of this study. The results were used to establish a chronic no-observed-effect-concentration (NOEC), lowest-observed-effect-concentration (LOEC), and maximum-allowable-toxicant-concentration (MATC). The International Imaging Industries Association sponsored the study.
Key words: silver toxicity, marine water quality criteria, sea urchin, Arbacia punctulata