Application of Indigenous Benthic Amphipods as Sediment Toxicity Testing Organisms

A series of experiments were conducted to develop standard test organisms and test protocols for measuring sediment toxicity using candidate amphipods such as Mandibulophoxus mai, Monocorophium acherusicum, Haustorioides indivisus, and Haustorioides koreanus, which are indigenous to Korea. The relevant association of test species with sediment substrates was one of the important factors in sediment bioassay. The indigenous amphipods M mai and M. acherusicum were well associated with test sediments when they were exposed to various sediment substrates from sand to mud. The tolerant limits to various physico-chemical factors affecting bioassay results such as temperature, salinity and ammonia, as well as sensitivities to reference toxicant and contaminated sediments, were investigated using M. mai and M. acherusicum in the present study. These amphipods were tolerant to relatively wide ranges of salinity $(10{\sim}30\;psu)$ and ammonia (<50 ppm), and displayed relevant sensitivity to temperature as well. They are more sensitive to Cd, the reference toxicant, when compared to the standard test species used in other countries. Field-sediment toxicity tests revealed that M. mai would be more sensitive to sediment-associated pollutants than M. acherusicum, while the sensitivity of M. acherusicum was comparable to that of Leptocheirus plumulosus, which has been used as a standard test species in the United States of America. Overall results of this first attempt to develop an amphipod sediment toxicity test protocol in Korea indicated that M. mai and M. acherusicum would be applicable in the toxicity assessment of contaminated sediments, following the further evaluation encompassing various ecological and toxicological studies in addition to test method standardization.