Title: The application and validation of in situ ecotoxicological assays at biologically and chemically incongruous sites (379/2/T)
Author: P. Delaney
Author: M. Crane
Author: C. Mainstone
Document Type: Monograph
Abstract:
This interim report describes work undertaken in the first six months of the project. The
principal aim of this project is to apply suitable toxicological test systems to field based
problems in order to assess the usefulness of these systems to the NRA. The results of the
1990 River Quality Survey undertaken by the NRA have been used to identify possible study
sites where the provisional chemical class differs considerably from the provisional
biological class. This type of site was considered to be a useful testing ground for these
techniques, because it was hypothesised that toxic pollution was the most likely cause of
poor biological class and good chemical class.
In situ assays were chosen as the primary tools in this study because, like indigenous
macroinvertebrate communities, they can be used to integrate site specific effects over
different periods of time. However, unlike standard macroinvertebrate survey techniques,
they can be used in controlled experiments. They can be placed in different physical
compartments of the river and are not constrained by habitat differences. A range of
endpoints can be measured, some of them specific to particular classes of pollutants, and
certain techniques are able to identify the precise timing of a pollution event.
Eight of the ten NRA regions have been visited so far, and potential sites discussed with
relevant personnel. The emphasis has been on identifying three sites nationally at which
selected ecotoxicological techniques can be deployed on several occasions during a
year long exercise.
Publisher: National Rivers Authority
Publication Date: 1992
Publication Place: Bristol
Subject Keywords: Ecotoxicology; Mussels; Macroinvertebrates
Geographic Keywords: England
Extent: 68; + appendices
Permalink: http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:3923
Total file downloads: 62
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