N.J. Diepens

Sediment Toxicity Testing of Organic Chemicals in the Context of Prospective Risk Assessment: A Review

Sediment toxicity tests play an important role in prospective risk assessment for organic chemicals. This review describes sediment toxicity tests for microorganisms, macrophytes, benthic invertebrates, and benthic communities. Current approaches in sediment toxicity testing are fragmentary and diverse. This hampers the translation of single-species test results between freshwater, estuarine and marine ecosystems and to the population and community levels. A more representative selection of species and endpoints as well as a unification of dose metrics and exposure assessment methodologies across groups of test species, constitutes a first step toward a balanced strategy for sediment toxicity testing of single organic compounds in the context of prospective risk assessment. Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publishers online edition of Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology for the supplemental material.

Modeling of Bioaccumulation in Marine Benthic Invertebrates Using a Multispecies Experimental Approach.

The causal links between species traits and bioaccumulation by marine invertebrates are poorly understood. We assessed these links by measuring and modeling polychlorinated biphenyl bioaccumulation by four marine benthic species. Uniformity of exposure was achieved by testing each species in the same aquarium, separated by enclosures, to ensure that the observed variability in bioaccumulation was due to species traits. The relative importance of chemical uptake from pore water or food (organic matter, OM) ingestion was manipulated by using artificial sediment with different OM contents. Biota sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) ranged from 5 to 318, in the order Nereis virens < Arenicola marina ≈ Macoma balthica < Corophium volutator. Calibration of a kinetic model provided species-specific parameters that represented the key species traits, thus illustrating how models provide an opportunity to read across benthic species with different feeding strategies. Key traits included species-specific differentiation between (1) ingestion rates, (2) ingestion of suspended and settled OM, and (3) elimination rates. The high BSAF values and their concomitant variability across the species challenges approaches for exposure assessment based on pore water concentration analysis and equilibrium partition theory. We propose that combining multienclosure testing and modeling will substantially improve exposure assessment in sediment toxicity tests.

Trait-based modelling of bioaccumulation by freshwater benthic invertebrates.

Understanding the role of species traits in chemical exposure is crucial for bioaccumulation and toxicity assessment of chemicals. We measured and modelled bioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Chironomus riparius, Hyalella azteca, Lumbriculus variegatus and Sphaerium corneum. We used a battery test procedure with multiple enclosures in one aquarium, which maximized uniformity of exposure for the different species, such that the remaining variability was due mostly to species traits. The relative importance of uptake from either pore water or sediment ingestion was manipulated by using 28 d aged standard OECD sediment with low (1%) and medium (5%) OM content and 13 months aged sediment with medium OM (5%) content. Survival was ≥76% and wet weight increased for all species. Reproduction of H. azteca and weight gain of H. azteca and S. corneum were significantly higher in the medium OM aged sediments than in other sediments, perhaps due to a more developed microbial community (i.e., increase in food resources). Biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAF) ranged from 3 to 114, depending on species and PCB congener, with C. riparius (3-10)<S. corneum (10-17)≤L. variegatus (7-61)≤H. Azteca (5-114), thus challenging the presumed value of 1-2 typically employed in ecological risk assessment schemes. BSAFs for freshwater taxonomic groups were compared with their marine counterparts and showed overlapping values. The dynamic bioaccumulation model with species-specific bioaccumulation parameters fitted well to the experimental data and showed that bioaccumulation parameters were depended on species traits. Enclosure-based battery tests and mechanistic BSAF models are expected to improve the quality of the exposure assessment in whole sediment toxicity tests.

Prospective Environmental Risk Assessment for Sediment-Bound Organic Chemicals: A Proposal for Tiered Effect Assessment

A broadly accepted framework for prospective environmental risk assessment (ERA) of sediment-bound organic chemicals is currently lacking. Such a framework requires clear protection goals, evidence-based concepts that link exposure to effects and a transparent tiered-effect assessment. In this paper, we provide a tiered prospective sediment ERA procedure for organic chemicals in sediment, with a focus on the applicable European regulations and the underlying data requirements. Using the ecosystem services concept, we derived specific protection goals for ecosystem service providing units: microorganisms, benthic algae, sediment-rooted macrophytes, benthic invertebrates and benthic vertebrates. Triggers for sediment toxicity testing are discussed.We recommend a tiered approach (Tier 0 through Tier 3). Tier-0 is a cost-effective screening based on chronic water-exposure toxicity data for pelagic species and equilibrium partitioning. Tier-1 is based on spiked sediment laboratory toxicity tests with standard benthic test species and standardised test methods. If comparable chronic toxicity data for both standard and additional benthic test species are available, the Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) approach is a more viable Tier-2 option than the geometric mean approach. This paper includes criteria for accepting results of sediment-spiked single species toxicity tests in prospective ERA, and for the application of the SSD approach. We propose micro/mesocosm experiments with spiked sediment, to study colonisation success by benthic organisms, as a Tier-3 option. Ecological effect models can be used to supplement the experimental tiers. A strategy for unifying information from various tiers by experimental work and exposure-and effect modelling is provided.

Effects of sediment-spiked lufenuron on benthic macroinvertebrates in outdoor microcosms and single-species toxicity tests

Sediment ecotoxicity studies were conducted with lufenuron to (i) complement the results of a water-spiked mesocosm experiment with this lipophilic benzoylurea insecticide, (ii) to explore the predictive value of laboratory single-species tests for population and community-level responses of benthic macroinvertebrates, and (iii) to calibrate the tier-1 effect assessment procedure for sediment organisms. For this purpose the concentration-response relationships for macroinvertebrates between sediment-spiked microcosms and those of 28-d sediment-spiked single-species toxicity tests with Chironomus riparius, Hyalella azteca and Lumbriculus variegatus were compared. Lufenuron persisted in the sediment of the microcosms. On average, 87.7% of the initial lufenuron concentration could still be detected in the sediment after 12 weeks. Overall, benthic insects and crustaceans showed treatment-related declines and oligochaetes treatment-related increases. The lowest population-level NOEC in the microcosms was 0.79μg lufenuron/g organic carbon in dry sediment (μg a.s./g OC) for Tanytarsini, Chironomini and Dero sp. Multivariate analysis of the responses of benthic macroinvertebrates revealed a community-level NOEC of 0.79μg a.s./g OC. The treatment-related responses observed in the microcosms are in accordance with the results of the 28-d laboratory toxicity tests. These tests showed that the insect C. riparius and the crustacean H. azteca were approximately two orders of magnitude more sensitive than the oligochaete L. variegatus. In our laboratory tests, using field-collected sediment, the lowest 28-d EC10 (0.49μg a.s./g OC) was observed for C. riparius (endpoint survival), while for the standard OECD test with this species, using artificial sediment, a NOEC of 2.35μg a.s./g OC (endpoint emergence) is reported. In this particular case, the sediment tier-1 effect assessment using the chronic EC10 (field-collected sediment) or chronic NOEC (artificial sediment) of C. riparius and an assessment factor of 10, seems to be protective for the treatment-related responses observed in the sediment-spiked microcosms.

Molecular Assessment of Bacterial Community Dynamics and Functional End Points during Sediment Bioaccumulation Tests.

Whole sediment toxicity tests play an important role in environmental risk assessment of organic chemicals. It is not clear, however, to what extent changing microbial community composition and associated functions affect sediment test results. We assessed the development of bacterial communities in artificial sediment during a 28 day bioaccumulation test with polychlorinated biphenyls, chlorpyrifos, and four marine benthic invertebrates. DGGE and 454-pyrosequencing of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes were used to characterize bacterial community composition. Abundance of total bacteria and selected genes encoding enzymes involved in important microbially mediated ecosystem functions were measured by qPCR. Community composition and diversity responded most to the time course of the experiment, whereas organic matter (OM) content showed a low but significant effect on community composition, biodiversity and two functional genes tested. Moreover, OM content had a higher influence on bacterial community composition than invertebrate species. Medium OM content led to the highest gene abundance and is preferred for standard testing. Our results also indicated that a pre-equilibration period is essential for growth and stabilization of the bacterial community. The observed changes in microbial community composition and functional gene abundance may imply actual changes in such functions during tests, with consequences for exposure and toxicity assessment.

Accumulation of Plastic Debris and Associated Contaminants in Aquatic Food Webs

We present a generic theoretical model (MICROWEB) that simulates the transfer of microplastics and hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOC) in food webs. We implemented the model for an Arctic case comprised of nine species including Atlantic cod and polar bear as top predator. We used the model to examine the effect of plastic ingestion on trophic transfer of microplastics and persistent HOCs (PCBs) and metabolizable HOCs (PAHs), spanning a wide range of hydrophobicities. In a scenario where HOCs in plastic and water are in equilibrium, PCBs biomagnify less when more microplastic is ingested, because PCBs biomagnify less well from ingested plastic than from regular food. In contrast, PAHs biomagnify more when more microplastic is ingested, because plastic reduces the fraction of PAHs available for metabolization. We also explore nonequilibrium scenarios representative of additives that are leaching out, as well as sorbing HOCs, quantitatively showing how the above trends are strengthened and weakened, respectively. The observed patterns were not very sensitive to modifications in the structure of the food web. The model can be used as a tool to assess prospective risks of exposure to microplastics and complex HOC mixtures for any food web, including those with relevance for human health.

Fate and effects of sediment-associated triclosan in subtropical freshwater microcosms

Triclosan (TCS) is an antibacterial agent that is commonly used in personal care products. Because of its sediment-binding properties, TCS exposure presents a potential threat to sediment-dwelling aquatic organisms. Currently our knowledge of the fate and effects of sediment-associated TCS in aquatic systems is limited. To understand the impact of sediment-associated TCS, we used microcosms to assess effects of TCS exposure on a diverse range of organisms selected to mimic a subtropical community, with an exposure period of 28 days. We included the oligochaete freshwater worm Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri to evaluate the interaction between sediment-associated TCS and sediment-dwelling organisms, including potential loss of TCS from the sediment due to biological activity and bioaccumulation. Benthic macroinvertebrate presence significantly increased the TCS levels from 0.013 ± 0.007 μg/L to 0.613 ± 0.030 μg/L in the overlying water through biological activity, posing a potential additional risk to pelagic species, but it did not result in a significant reduction of the sediment concentration. Furthermore, worms accumulated TCS with estimated Biota-Sediment-Accumulation-Factors (BSAFs) ranging between 0.38-3.55. Other than for algae, TCS at environmental concentrations did not affect the survival of the introduced organisms, including the L. hoffmeisteri. Our results demonstrate that, although TCS at currently detected maximum concentration may not have observable toxic effects on the benthic macroinvertebrates in the short term, it can lead to bioaccumulation in worms.