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TESTING ACUTE TOXICITY OF CONTAMINATED SEDIMENT IN JINZHOU BAY WITH MARINE AMPHIPODS
Citation:
Yan, Q., D. Ma, H. Guo, D J. Hansen, AND W J. Berry. TESTING ACUTE TOXICITY OF CONTAMINATED SEDIMENT IN JINZHOU BAY WITH MARINE AMPHIPODS. OCEANOLOGIA ET LIMNOLOGIA SINICA 30(6):629-633, (1999).
Description:
Sediments in some areas of Jinzhou Bay are contaminated seriously by heavy metals and organic contaminants. To assess the biological effects of these compounds in the sediment, seven surface samples of sediment were collected at an interval of about 2km between sampling stations in a transect cross the bay along SW-NE and the sediment toxicity was measured by conducting 10-day flow-through sediment acute toxicity test with amphipod species Ampelisca abdita in which the end point was mortality from September 1992 to January 1993. The result of this study showed the highest acute mortality, 100%, occurred at location 1, the mouth of Wuli River, and the mortality of the amphipods presented an exponent decrease in the transection from location 1 to location 7 where the mortality was the lowest, 2.5%.
The transection investigated in Jinzhou Bay may be divided into three sections to assess the sediment quality depending on the results of Jinzhou Bay sediment acute toxicity test. South-western part of the top of the bay, location 1 and 2, was an heavily polluted area, with a 90%?100% amphipod mortality. Middle part of the bay, location 3 and 4, was polluted too, with more than 30% mortality. North-eastern part of the mouth of the bay, location 5?7, was a relatively natural area, without toxicity to the amphipods.
The sediments in Jinzhou Bay contained a large number metals and organic compounds. Metal analysis indicated that all the highest concentrations of the 10 metals occurred at the mouth of Wuli River and as the distance increased from the area toward North?eastern, the metal concentrations decrease dramatically, the lowest concentrations of the metals occurring at the mouth of the bay (location 5?7). Organic compounds analysis demonstrated that the mouth of the Wali River was polluted by toxic organic compounds too. The concentrations of the organic contaminants in the surface sediment at location 1 were 3?5 times higher than those at location 2. The variance trend of the sediment toxicities to amphipods was coincident with the distribution trend of the contaminants in the sediments and in situ ecological distribution tend of the benthos in Jinzhou Bay and all of them basically reflected the pollution status of Jinzhou Bay.