We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Toxicity of pentachlorophenol to aquatic organisms under naturally varying and controlled environmental conditions.
- Authors
Hedtke, Steven F.; West, Corlis W.; Allen, Kathleen N.; Norberg-King, Teresa J.; Mount, Donald I.
- Abstract
The toxicity of pentachlorophenol (PCP) was determined in the laboratory for 11 aquatic species. Tests were conducted seasonally in ambient Mississippi River water and under controlled conditions in Lake Superior water. Fifty-one acute toxicity tests were conducted, with LC50 values ranging from 85 μg/L for the white sucker Catastomus commersoni during the summer to greater than 7,770 μg/L for the isopod Asellus racovitzai during the winter. The effect of PCP on growth and/or reproduction was determined for seven species. The most sensitive chronically exposed organisms were the cladoceran Ceriodaphnia reticulata and the snail Physa gyrina. Both were adversely affected at the lowest concentrations tested, i.e., 4.1 and 26 μg/L, respectively. The duckweed Lemna minor was the least sensitive, with no apparent effects after exposure for 21 d to concentrations as high as 1,440 μg/L. The greatest variation in toxicity was due to species sensitivity. Within a given season there was as much as a 40-fold difference in LC50 values between species. For any one species, the maximum variation in LC50 between seasons was approximately 14-fold. There were also substantial differences in acute-chronic relationships, with acute/chronic ratios ranging from greater than 37 for C. reticulata to 1 for Simocephalus vetulus. It is suggested that the composition of the aquatic community should be the most important consideration in estimating the potential environmental effects of PCP.
- Publication
Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry, 1986, Vol 5, Issue 6, p531
- ISSN
0730-7268
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/etc.5620050605