Lethal levels of hypoxia for gulf coast estuarine animals |
| |
Authors: | Larry R Goodman Jed G Campbell |
| |
Institution: | (1) NHEERL Gulf Ecology Division, ORD, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1 Sabine Island Drive, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561, USA |
| |
Abstract: | There is increasing concern about eutrophication and subsequent hypoxia problems in estuaries. The US Environmental Protection
Agency has developed Water Quality Criteria (WQC) for dissolved oxygen (DO) in saltwater for Cape Cod, MA to Cape Hatteras,
NC but inadequate data exists for development of such criteria for other coastal geographic areas. We performed acute tests
with two species of crustaceans and seven species of estuarine fishes native to the Gulf of Mexico to complement the data
base for northeastern species. Flow-through tests were conducted for either 24- or 48-h at test temperatures from 24 to 28°C
and at salinities from 20 to 31.5‰. Estimated 24-h LC50 values obtained for crustaceans ranged from 1.36 mg/l for adult pink
shrimp to 1.56 mg/l for 10-day-old mysids. Similarly, estimated LC50 values for fish ranged from 1.34 mg/l in one of the three
tests with pinfish to 2.22 mg/l in one of the two tests with scaled sardines. The majority of mortality attributable to low
DO concentrations in our experiments usually occurred within the first 4 h of exposure. LC50 values for the species tested
are below the WQC recommended protective limit of 2.3 mg/l for juvenile and adult animals. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|