|
(70-59) Copper toxicity to field collected aquatic organisms. Bossuyt, Bart*,1, Janssen, Colin1, 1 Laboratory of Environmenal Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Gent ABSTRACT- Ecological issues which need to be addressed when assessing the risks of metals to the aquatic environment are: (1) background concentrations of essential metals like copper affect the sensitivity of resident communities, and (2) laboratory toxicity tests results may not reflect field population and community responses due to differences in metal bioavailability and sensitivity in different regions. In this study, the sensitivity of various species collected in different aquatic systems was assessed by performing toxicity tests with Cu-spiked surface waters assessed. The acute copper tolerance of 10 crustacean species ranged from 2.29 up to 8470 Key words: copper, lab to field, species sensitivity distribution, water effect ratio |
g/L Cu when tested in the standard artificial medium. Copepods were the least sensitive and Ceriodaphnia sp. and Scapholeberis sp. proved to be the most sensitive species. For each location, local species sensitivity distributions were constructed. The importance of metal bioavailibilty modifying factors, Cu background concentrations and geographic differences in community sensitivity will be assessed in the context of environmental risk assessments procedures for metals.