A comparison of acute and chronic toxicity methods for marine sediments.

Sediment toxicity tests are valuable tools for assessing the potential effects of contaminated sediments in dredged material evaluations because they inherently address complexity (e.g., unknown contaminants, mixtures, bioavailability). Although there is a need to understand the chronic and sublethal impacts of contaminants, it is common to conduct only short-term lethality tests in evaluations of marine sediments. Chronic toxicity methods for marine sediments have been developed but the efficacy of these methods is less documented. In this evaluation of marine sediments collected from the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) Harbor, three 10-d acute toxicity test methods (Ampelisca abdita, Leptocheirus plumulosus, Americamysis bahia) and three chronic and sublethal test methods (28-d L. plumulosus, 20- and 28-d Neanthes arenaceodentata) were applied by three testing laboratories. Although the N. arenaceodentata and A. bahia tests did not indicate significant toxicity for the sediments tested in this study, these methods have been reported useful in evaluating other sediments. The 10-d A. abdita, 10-d L. plumulosus and 28-d L. plumulosus tests were comparable between laboratories, indicating 29-43%, 29%, and 43-71% of the tested sediments as potentially toxic. The 28-d L. plumulosus method was the only chronic toxicity test that responded to the test sediments in this study. The 28-d L. plumulosus endpoint magnitudes were related to sediment chemistry and the sublethal endpoints were reduced as much or more than acute lethality endpoints. However, intra-treatment sublethal endpoint variability was greater, compromising detection of statistical significance. In this study, the chronic L. plumulosus test method was less consistent among laboratories relative to acute test methods, identifying potential for toxicity in a similar number (or slightly more) NY/NJ Harbor sediments.

Environmental fate and effects of nicotine released during cigarette production.

A variety of test methods were used to study the gradation, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of nicotine. Studies included determination of the octanol-water partition coefficient, conversion to CO2 in soil and activated sludge, and evaluation of the effects on microbiological and algal inhibition as well as plant germination and root elongation. The partitioning of nicotine between octanol and water indicated that nicotine will not bioaccumulate regardless of the pH of the medium. The aqueous and soil-based biodegradation studies indicated that nicotine is readily biodegradable in both types of media. The microbiological inhibition and aquatic and terrestrial toxicity tests indicated that nicotine has low toxicity. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Persistence, Bioaccumulation, and Toxicity Profiler model, based on the structure of nicotine and the predictive rates of hydroxyl radical and ozone reactions, estimated an atmospheric half-life of less than 5.0 h. Using this value in the Canadian Environmental Modeling Center level III model, the half-life of nicotine was estimated as 3.0 d in water and 0.5 d in soil. This model also estimated nicotine discharge into the environment; nicotine would be expected to be found predominantly in water (93%), followed by soil (4%), air (3%), and sediment (0.4%). Using the estimated nicotine concentrations in water, soil, and sediment and the proper median effective concentrations derived from the algal growth, biomass inhibition, and buttercrunch lettuce (Lactuca sativa) seed germination and root elongation studies, hazard quotients of between 10(-7) and 10(-8) were calculated, providing further support for the conclusion that the potential for nicotine toxicity to aquatic and terrestrial species in the environment is extremely low.

Investigation of an onsite wastewater treatment system in sandy soil: sorption and biodegradation of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate.

The objective of this work was to determine the sorptive and biodegradable characteristics of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) in a soil below a Florida, USA, septic system drainfield. Three distinct soil samples were collected from the septic system drainfield study site. These soils were used in laboratory sorption and biodegradation studies. Different concentrations of LAS were added, in radiolabeled and unlabeled forms, to a series of test vessels that contained upgradient groundwater and the soils collected from the study site. The sorption test was designed to determine the partitioning of LAS between groundwater and soil in each sample. Results indicated that the sorption distribution coefficient (Kd) decreased from 4.02 to 0.43 L/kg and that the rate of ultimate biodegradation (first-order rate constant, k1) decreased from 2.17 to 0.08/d with increasing distance (0.7-1.2 m vertically below ground surface [BGS] and 0 to 6.1 m horizontally) from the drainfield. The three soils showed 49.8 to 83.4% LAS mineralization (percentage of theoretical CO2) over 45- or 59-d test periods. These results demonstrate that subsurface soils in this system have the potential to sorb and biodegrade LAS.