Toxicity Test Of Sediment From Cirebon Coastal Area In Relation To The Growth Of Diatom Planktonik

Abstract

Coasta l area of Cirebon is much influenced from domestic activities, industries, fisheries and ports. These activities potentially contribute contaminants that enter the aquatic ecosystems and affect the quality of sediment. The health condition of sediment can be evaluated from various aspects including aspect of sediment toxicity to aquatic biota. This study aims to evaluate toxicity of sediment Cirebon to planktonic diatomae, C. gracilis. Sediment samples were taken from 11 stations using the Grab Smith McIntrye 0.05 m 2 . C . gracilis was exposed to sediment for 96 hours. Endpoint of the test is mean number of cells C. gracilis in treatment compared to control after 96 h exposure. Mean number of cells of C. gracilis in treatment was analyzed wheter its showed a stimulation or an inhibition growth effect compared to control. The results indicate that Cirebon sediment still showed stimulation effect on growth of C. gracilis. Stimulation effect of growth was characterized by the increasing of cells number in sediment treatment than that of cells in seawater control. Result of ANOVA shows no significance difference was among stations. Result of correlation analysis shows that there was no strong correlation between Cd concentration in sediment and number of cells of C. gracilis. Generally, Cirebon sediment is still in a good condition and can support for planktonic diatom, C. gracilis ’s life.