Article
Full Access
Bioassessment of water quality
P. T. S. Wong,
D. G. Dixon,
P. T. S. Wong
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Bayfield Institute, Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Burlington, Ontario, Canada, L7R 4A6
Search for more papers by this authorD. G. Dixon
Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1
Search for more papers by this authorP. T. S. Wong,
D. G. Dixon,
P. T. S. Wong
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Bayfield Institute, Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Burlington, Ontario, Canada, L7R 4A6
Search for more papers by this authorD. G. Dixon
Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Over the past 20 years there has been a concerted effort to define and limit the impacts of anthropogenic contaminants in aquatic environments. There are essentially two philosophies that can be employed to regulate and to assess the effects of toxic chemicals in these systems. The first is the water quality objectives research. Under this protocol, laboratory research is used to set an objective, the concentration of a substance or condition that is considered to have no effect on the organisms in an aquatic environment based on a review of the pertinent research. The second approach, environmental health assessment, uses the in situ responses of free-living organisms in contaminated environments to determine the overall impacts of the environment on those organisms. In this review paper we will attempt to compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches, and to outline a system whereby they can be used together to enhance our degree of confidence in legislation directed at reducing contaminant impacts. © by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
References
- American Public Health Association. 1985. Bioassay methods for aquatic organisms. In: Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (sixteenth edition). American Public Health Association, Washington, DC.
- Barron, M. G. and I. R. Adelman. 1984. Nucleic acid, protein content and growth of larval fish sublethally exposed to various toxicants. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 41: 141–150.
- Biesinger, K. E., L. E. Anderson, and J. G. Eaton. 1980. Chronic effects of inorganic and organic mercury on Daphnia magna: toxicity, accumulation, and loss. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 11: 769–774.
- Bitton, G., and B. J. Dutka. 1986. Introduction and review of microbial and biochemical toxicity screening procedures. Chap. 15 P. 1–8. In B. J. Dutka and G. Bittop (eds.), Toxicity Testing Using Microorganisms, Vol. 2, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
- Black, J. J. 1988. Fish tumors as known field effects of contaminants, Chap. 2, P. 55–81. N. W. Schmidtke (ed.), Toxic Contamination in Large Lakes, Vol. 1. Lewis Publishers, MI.
- Borgmann, U., and M. Munawar. 1989. A new standardized sediment bioassay protocol using the amphipod Hyallea azteca (Saussure). Hydrobiologia 188/189: 425–431.
- Cairns, V. W., P. V. Hodson, and J. O. Nriagu (Eds.) 1984. Contaminant Effects on Fisheries [Special Issue]. Adv. Environ. Sci. Technol. 16: 1–333.
- DeZwart, D., and W. Slooff. 1983. The Microtox as an alternative assay in the acute toxicity assessments of water pollutants. Aquat. Toxicol. 4: 129–137.
- Environmental Protection Agency. 1971. Algal Procedure Bottle Test. National Eutrophication Research Program, Corvallis, OR.
- Environmental Protection Agency. 1980. Chronic Toxicity Test Standard Using Daphnids in Renewal and Flow-through System. Office of Testing and Evaluation, Office of Pesticides Toxic Substances, Washington, DC.
- Giesy, J. P., D. J. Versteeg, and R. L. Graney. 1988. A review of selected clinical indicators of stress-induced changes in aquatic organisms, P. 169–200. In M. S. Evans (ed.), Toxic Contaminants and Ecosystem Health: A Great Lakes Focus. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
- Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement with Annexes and texts and terms of reference, between the United States of America and Canada. 1972.
- Hamilton, A. L., and O. A. Saether. 1971. The occurrence of characteristic deformities in the chironomid larvae of several Canadian lakes. Can. Ent. 103: 363–368.
- Hodson, P. V. 1986. Water quality criteria and the need for biochemical monitoring of contaminant effects on aquatic ecosystems, Chap. 2. In B. T. Hart (ed.), Water Quality Management Freshwater Ecotoxicity in Australia. Water Studies Centre, Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
- Hodson, P. V., B. R. Blunt, and D. M. Whittle. 1984. Monitoring lead exposure of fish. Adv. Environ. Sci. Technol. 16: 87–98.
- International Joint Commission. 1918. Final Report on the Pollution of Boundary Waters Reference. Government Printing Office, Ottawa, Canada.
- International Joint Commission. 1951. Report on the Pollution of Boundary Waters. Government Printing Office, Ottawa, Canada.
- International Joint Commission. 1967. Summary Report on the Pollution of the Niagara River. Government Printing Office, Ottawa, Canada.
- International Joint Commission. 1969. Report on the Pollution of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the International Section of the St. Lawrence River. Government Printing Office, Ottawa, Canada.
- International Joint Commission. 1976. Great Lakes Water Quality Fourth Annual Report. Appendix A. Annual Report of the Water Quality Objectives Subcommittee, Government Printing Office. Ottawa, Canada.
- International Joint Commission. 1986. Literature Review of the Effects of Persistent Toxic Substances on Great Lakes Biota, Government Printing Office, Ottawa, Canada.
- International Organization for Standardization. 1983. Algal Growth Inhibition Test, Delft, Netherlands.
- Kaushik, N. K., G. L. Stephenson, K. R. Solomon, and K. E. Day. 1985. Impact of permethrin on zooplankton communities in limnocorrals. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 42: 77–85.
- Levin, S. A., and K. D. Kimball (eds). 1984. New perspectives in ecotoxicology. Environ. Manag. 8: 375–442.
- Little, J. W., and D. W. Mount. 1982. The SOS regulatory system of Escherichia coli. Cell 29: 11–22.
- Maron, D. M., and B. N. Ames. 1982. Revised methods for the Salmonella mutagenicity test. Mutat. Res. 113: 173–215.
- McIntyre, A. D., and J. B. Pearce. 1980. Biological effects of marine pollutation and the problems of monitoring. Rapp. R.-V. Reun. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer., Vol. 179, International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- McKee, M. J., and C. O. Knowles. 1986. Protein, nucleic acid and adenylate levels in Daphnia magna during chronic exposure to chlordecone. Environ. Pollut. 42A: 335–351.
- Mehrle, P. M., T. A. Haines, S. Hamilton, J. L. Ludke, F. L. Mayer, and M. A. Ribick. 1982. Relationship between body contaminants and bone development in East Coast striped bass. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 111: 231–241.
- Metcalfe, C. D., V. W. Cairns, and J. D. Fitzsimons. 1988. Experimental induction of liver tumours in rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) by contaminated sediment from Hamilton Harbour, Ontario. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 45: 2161–2167.
- Mount, D. I., and T. J. Norberg. 1984. A seven-day life cycle cladoceran toxicity test. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 3: 425–434.
- Munawar, M., G. Dixon, C. I. Mayfield, T. Reynoldson, and M. H. Sadar (eds). 1989. Environmental bioassay techniques and their application [Special Issue] Hydrobiologia 188/189: 1–680.
-
Munawar, M.,
I. F. Munawar,
L. R. Culp, and
G. Dupuis.
1978.
Relative importance of nanoplankton in Lake Superior phytoplankton biomass and community metabolism.
J. Great Lakes Res.
4: 462–480.
10.1016/S0380-1330(78)72215-X Google Scholar
- Munkittrick, K. R., and D. G. Dixon. 1988a. Growth, fecundity and energy stores of white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) exposed to elevations of copper and zinc. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 45: 1355–1365.
- Munkittrick, K. R., and D. G. Dixon. 1988b. Evidence for a maternal yolk factor associated with increased tolerance and resistance of feral white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) to waterborne copper. Ecotox. Environ. Safety 15: 7–20.
- Munkittrick, K. R., and D. G. Dixon. 1989a. A holistic approach to ecosystem health assessment using fish population characteristics. Hydrobiologia 188/189: 123–135.
- Munkittrick, K. R., and D. G. Dixon. 1989b. The effects of natural exposure to copper and zinc on egg size and larval copper tolerance in white sucker. Ecotox. Environ. Safety 18: 15–26.
- Munkittrick, K. R., and D. G. Dixon. 1989c. The use of white sucker populations to assess the health of aquatic ecosystems exposed to low level of contaminant stress. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 46: 1455–1462.
- Niimi, A. J. 1990. Review of biochemical methods and other indicators to assess fish health in aquatic ecosystems containing toxic chemicals. J. Great Lakes Res. 16: 529–541.
- National Research Council of Canada. 1985. The role of biochemical indicators in the assessment of ecosystem health-their development and validation. Publ. No. 24371, Ottawa, Canada, 119 p.
- Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 1981. Guidelines for Testing of Chemicals. Section 2: Effects on Biotic Systems. Paris, France.
- Ontario Ministry of the Environment. 1977. The decline in mercury contamination in fish from Lake St. Clair, 1970–1976. Report No. AQS77–3, Rexdale, Ontario, Canada.
- Rhee, G. Y. 1980. Continuous culture in phytoplankton ecology. Adv. Aquat. Microbiol. 2: 151–204.
- Schindler, D. W. 1987. Detecting ecosystem responses to anthropogenic stress. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 44 (Suppl. 1): 6–25.
- Schindler, D. W., R. V. Schmidt, and R. A. Reid. 1972. Acidification and bubbling as an alternative to filtration in determining phytoplankton production by the 14C-method. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Can. 29: 1627–1631.
- Sprague, J. B. 1973. The ABCs of pollutant bioassay using fish. In J. Cairns and K. L. Dickson, (eds.), Biological Methods for the Assessment of Water Quality. ASTM Special Technical Publication 258. American Society Testing Materials, Philadelphia, PA.
- Swanson, G. M. 1985. Population and cholinesterase responses in fish exposed to malathion sprays. Pest. Biochem. Physiol. 24: 12–18.
- Williamson, K. J., and D. G. Johnson. 1981. A bacterial bioassay for assessment of wastewater toxicity. Water Res. 15: 383–390.
- Wong, P. T. S., Y. K. Chau, and D. Patel. 1983. The use of algal batch and continuous culture techniques in metal toxicity study, P. 449–466. J. O. Nriagu (Ed.), Aquatic Toxicology. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
- Wong, P. T. S., and P. Couture. 1986. Toxicity screening using phytoplankton, Chap. 4, P. 79–100. In B. J. Dutka and G. Bitton, (Eds.), Toxicity Testing Using Microorganisms, Vol. 2. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
