Isolating the impact of sediment toxicity in urban streams

Several factors can contribute to the ecological degradation of stream catchments following urbanization, but it is often difficult to separate their relative importance. We isolated the impact of polluted sediment on the condition of an urban stream in Melbourne, Australia, using two complementary approaches. Using a rapid bioassessment approach, indices of stream condition were calculated based on macroinvertebrate field surveys. Urban stream reaches supported impoverished macroinvertebrate communities, and contained potentially toxic concentrations of heavy metals and hydrocarbons. Using a field microcosm approach, a bioassay was carried out to assess sediment pollution effects on native macroinvertebrates. Sediment from urban sites substantially altered the microcosm macroinvertebrate community, most likely due to elevated heavy metal and hydrocarbon concentrations. Macroinvertebrate surveys combined with a bioassay approach based on field microcosms can help isolate the effect of stream pollutants in degraded ecosystems.     

An Emission Sampling Probe Installed,Operated, and Retrieved from Ground Level

The “Teepee” type wood residue incinerator, similar to many other sources, requires sampling at the point where the emissions enter the atmosphere. Because the location of the emission point is hazardous and unpleasant for the operation of a sampling probe, a portable, tilt-up column was developed which permitted installation, operation, and retrieval of the sampling train from ground level. The sampling train developed permitted determination of the size distribution and weight of the particulate emitted by this highly variable source.     

The aquatic toxicity of anionic surfactants to Daphnia magna--a comparative QSAR study of linear alkylbenzene sulphonates and ester sulphonates

This paper develops quantitative structure activity relationships (QSARs) for the acute aquatic toxicity of the anionic surfactants linear alkylbenzene sulphonates (LAS) and ester sulphonates (ES) to Daphnia magna, the aim being to investigate the modes of action by comparing the QSARs for the two types of surfactant. The generated data for ES have been used to develop a QSAR correlating toxicity with calculated log P values: log(1/EC50)= 0.78 log P+1.37. This equation has an intercept 1.1 log units lower than a QSAR for linear alkylbenzene sulphonates (LAS). The findings suggest that either ES surfactants act by a different mode of action to LAS and other anionic surfactants or the log P calculation method introduces a systematic overestimate when applied to ES.     

Chronic toxicity of sediment-associated linear alkylbenzene sulphonates (LAS) to freshwater benthic organisms

The toxicity of linear alkylbenzene sulphonates (LAS), to freshwater benthic organisms was assessed during exposure to spiked sediment. Lethal and sub-lethal end-points were monitored for two organisms (oligochaete Lumbriculus variegatus and nematode Caenorhabditis elegans). Results demonstrated relatively low toxicity (LOECs>100 mg/kg dry weight). No observed effect concentrations (NOECs) of 81 mg/kg dw (Lumbriculus) and 100 mg/kg dw (Caenorhabditis) were determined. For the oligochaete, no specific endpoint was particularly sensitive to LAS. For the nematode, egg production was the most sensitive endpoint. Significant degradation was measured over the 28-day duration of the Lumbriculus study, equating to a half-life of 20 days in sediment.     

Offspring size effects mediate competitive interactions in a colonial marine invertebrate

Over the past 30 years, numerous attempts to understand the relationship between offspring size and fitness have been made, and it has become clear that this critical relationship is strongly affected by environmental heterogeneity. For marine invertebrates, there has been a long-standing interest in the evolution of offspring size, but there have been very few empirical and theoretical examinations of post-metamorphic offspring size effects, and almost none have considered the effect of environmental heterogeneity on the offspring size/fitness relationship. We investigated the post-metamorphic effects of offspring size in the field for the colonial marine invertebrate Botrylloides violaceus. We also examined how the relationship between offspring size and performance was affected by three different types of intraspecific competition. We found strong and persistent effects of offspring size on survival and growth, but these effects depended on the level and type of intraspecific competition. Generally, competition strengthened the advantages of increasing maternal investment. Interestingly, we found that offspring size determined the outcome of competitive interaction: juveniles that had more maternal investment were more likely to encroach on another juvenile's territory. This suggests that mothers have the previously unrecognized potential to influence the outcome of competitive interactions in benthic marine invertebrates. We created a simple optimality model, which utilized the data generated from our field experiments, and found that increasing intraspecific competition resulted in an increase in predicted optimal size. Our results suggest that the relationship between offspring size and fitness is highly variable in the marine environment and strongly dependent on the density of conspecifics.