Development of a chronic sediment toxicity test using the benthic ostracod Heterocypris incongruens and their application to toxicity assessments of urban road dust

Abstract

This study reports on the development and application of a chronic sediment toxicity test using the benthic ostracod Heterocypris incongruens. H. incongruens reproduction parameters such as egg production, first day of brooding, egg-laying ratio, and hatching ratio were examined in this study. The test was first validated by determining the repeatability of the test method under seven control performances. The results showed good test repeatability of most endpoints, with coefficient of variation (CV) results below 15%. However, lifetime egg production, hatching ratio, and the reproductive rate were highly variable, with CVs ranging from 29.5% to 51.9%. Next, an application example of the proposed chronic method was performed using a series of urban road dust (URD) samples diluted with a reference sediment and compared to a 6 d H. incongruens toxicity test. The results of the proposed chronic test showed a statistically significant difference in the first day of brooding at 6.25% URD which did not exhibit significant mortality and growth inhibition in 6 d toxicity test.