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OBSERVATIONS ON THE 10-DAY CHIRONOMUS TENTANS SURVIVAL AND GROWTH BIOASSAY IN EVALUATING GREAT LAKES SEDIMENTS
Citation:
Call, D. J., K. Liber, F W. Whiteman, T D. Dawson, AND L. T. Brooke. OBSERVATIONS ON THE 10-DAY CHIRONOMUS TENTANS SURVIVAL AND GROWTH BIOASSAY IN EVALUATING GREAT LAKES SEDIMENTS. JOURNAL OF GREAT LAKES RESEARCH. International Association for Great Lakes Research, , Canada, 25:171-178, (1999).
Description:
A 10-day bioassay with larval chironomids (Chironomus tentans) was used to evaluate sediment samples from harbors at Michigan City, IN, St. Joseph, MI, Grand Haven, MI and Toledo, OH for toxicity, based on the endpoints of survival, dry weight, and growth. Larval responses in sediment samples from each harbor were compared to responses of larvae in reference sediments collected from or near each harbor. An inverse relationship between the number of survivors and mean organism dry weight or growth indicated that food was limiting the the bioassay for some samples. The confounding nature of this interaction was minimized by evaluting effects on the basis of total biomass per replicate. A site from Toledo Harbor was the most toxic. Reduced larval growth at this site indicated the liklihood for a negative populational impact. The importance of reference sediment selection was noted, as the assessment of sediment quality varied considerably for Toledo Harbor depending upon the particular reference sediment that was used for statistical purposes.