An evaluation of aquatic toxicity data with a population growth model for application to environmental hazard assessment

Acute and chronic bioassays with the cladocerans Ceriodaphnia dubia and Daphnia magna were conducted using four chemicals, each having a different mode of action. The chemicals were: cadmium (chloride), pentachlorophenol (PGP), 1-octanol, and 1-naphthyl-N-methylcarbamate (carbaryl). The data obtained from the tests were used to compare species sensitivities, endpoint sensitivities, and the relative toxicities of the chemicals. In the acute bioassays, estimates of the median lethal concentrations (48-h LC₅₀S) were used to compare the species sensitivities. Ceriodaphnia dubia was more sensitive than D. magna to all four chemicals, and carbaryl was the most toxic chemical to both species. The sensitivity of three endpoints (survival, reproduction and the intrinsic rate of natural increase, r) were used to evaluate the chronic toxicity of the four chemicals to C. dubia and D. magna with tests of two different durations. Survival and reproduction were measured during the chronic tests, then integrated using the Lotka equation to calculate r. Estimates of the variance in r was calculated using a bootstrap statistical procedure. Survival, reproduction and r all declined with greater concentrations of the chemicals. These effects were evident in both the 7- or 14-d exposures. The lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC) determined from studies with the four chemicals showed that neither survival nor reproduction was consistently the more sensitive endpoint for either C. dubia or D. magna. The LOECs for r were the same for both exposure durations for each species. The LOEC comparisons among endpoints showed that r was at least as sensitive, and often more sensitive than either of the other chronic endpoints. Thus, the data from this study demonstrate that the calculations of r from chronic toxicity data can provide equally sensitive bioassay results for protecting the environment, while eliminating conflicting interpretations of toxicant effects on separate endpoints. Furthermore, statistical decisions drawn from comparisons of the toxicity of exposure concentrations with the controls may not provide the most ecologically meaningful criteria for environmental protection.