Predicting chronic toxicity of sediments spiked with zinc: An evaluation of the acid‐volatile sulfide model using a life‐cycle test with the midge Chironomus tentans

Abstract

AbstractThe development of sediment quality criteria for the cationic metals cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc has focused on the use of acid‐volatile sulfide (AVS) as the primary normalization phase for predicting interstitial pore‐water concentrations and bioavailability of the metals. To date, most of the research in support of AVS in this context has utilized short‐term laboratory exposures, with a relative paucity of information pertaining to long‐term exposures. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the use of AVS as a predictor of metal toxicity to a benthic organism in a long‐term laboratory exposure. Clean sediment was spiked with zinc to obtain nominal treatments ranging from −2.34 to 58.5 μg/g dry weight with respect to the molar difference between simultaneously extracted metal (SEM) and AVS. The test was initiated with newly hatched larvae of the midge Chironomus tentans and carried through one complete generation (56 d) during which survival, growth, emergence, and reproduction were monitored. When the molar difference between SEM and AVS (i.e., SEM – AVS) was <0, the concentration of zinc in the sediment interstitial water was low and no adverse effects were observed for any of the biological endpoints measured. Conversely, when SEM – AVS exceeded 0, a dose‐dependent increase in the relative concentration of zinc in the pore water was detected. However, the absolute concentration of pore‐water zinc at each treatment declined over the course of the study, corresponding to an increase in sediment AVS and to a loss of zinc due to diffusion into the overlying water, which was renewed twice daily. Only when SEM – AVS exceeded 0 were significant reductions in survival, growth, emergence, and reproduction observed. Together, the chemical and biological data from this study compare favorably with observations made in short‐term exposures and thus support the use of AVS as a normalization phase for predicting toxicity in metal‐contaminated sediments.