T7 PM Metals and Bioaccumulation
Tuesday, 15 November 2005: 1:50 PM - 5:30 PM in 327-329

(ROS-1117-822076) Relating copper bioaccumulation and toxicity in marine invertebrate larvae for seawater Biotic Ligand Model development.

Rosen, G¹, Rivera-Duarte, I¹, Chadwick, D¹, Zacharias, C², Santore, R³, Paquin, P³, ¹ Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA² Computer Sciences Corporation, San Diego, CA, USA³ HydroQual, Inc., Camillus, NY, USA

ABSTRACT- The Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) has proven to be a useful tool in the development of site-specific water quality criteria for metals in freshwater environments by using easy to measure chemical characteristics of the water body as opposed to generation of more costly and time consuming toxicity data. It also shows promise for application in seawater; however, its demonstration in the marine environment is relatively limited. In this study, calibration data were developed for a seawater-based BLM by relating tissue accumulation data with associated toxicity in spiked, multi-concentration exposures with copper using larvae of two highly relevant marine invertebrates. Mytilus galloprovincialis (Mediterranean mussel) and Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (purple sea urchin) larvae are very sensitive to copper and are key drivers in the derivation of USEPA ambient water quality criteria for copper in saltwater. It is anticipated that this data will help validate assumptions currently made by the traditional fish gill-based BLM. The effects of differing chemical characteristics (e.g. dissolved organic carbon) on accumulation and toxicity of copper, by way of exposures with seawater samples of different origin, will also be presented.

Key words: copper, Mytilus galloprovincialis, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, BLM