Response of Ceriodaphnia dubia to ionic silver: discrepancies among model predictions, measured concentrations and mortality

Chemosphere. 2002 Feb;46(7):1141-6. doi: 10.1016/s0045-6535(01)00137-0.

Abstract

Silver thiosulfate, often a waste product of photoprocessing, is less bioavailable or toxic to aquatic organisms than is ionic silver. We conducted duplicate 48-h Ceriodaphnia dubia tests in reconstituted laboratory water using treatments of 92.7 nM Ag+ with various concentrations of thiosulfate. Expected Ag+ concentrations were generated for thiosulfate treatment levels using MINEQL + chemical equilibrium modeling. Ag+ concentrations in treatments were determined using a novel silicon-based sensor. Based on predicted Ag+ and published 48-h LC50 values for C. dubia, we did not expect to observe adverse effects. Yet, 100% mortality was observed at low thiosulfate treatments, whereas > 85% and > 95% survival was observed at higher thiosulfate treatment levels, respectively. Our results indicate that biotic responses match the sensor-based Ag+ concentrations. However, there is a discrepancy between these empirical results and responses expected to occur with Ag+ concentrations as predicted by MINEQL + chemical modeling. By correlating silicon sensor data with toxicity results obtained from our laboratory, our work clearly relates a specific chemical form (Ag+) to toxicity results.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biological Availability
  • Crustacea*
  • Forecasting
  • Ions
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Silver / chemistry*
  • Silver / pharmacokinetics
  • Silver / toxicity*
  • Water Pollutants / pharmacokinetics
  • Water Pollutants / toxicity*

Substances

  • Ions
  • Water Pollutants
  • Silver