SEASONAL CHANGES IN ACUTE TOXICITY OF CADMIUM TO AMPHIPOD COROPHIUM VOLUTATOR

摘要

In vivo bioassays are frequently used to asses the ecotoxicological risks of contaminated sediments. For quality assurance purpose, these bioassays are accompanied by reference toxicity tests. For the bioassay with Corophium volutator, this reference toxicity test is an acute water-phase test with cadmium. Approximately 80 water-phase tests were conducted in the period 1991- 1998. Corophium volutator shows a significant seasonal variation in response to cadmium, with a high LC50 in the winter period and a low LC50 in the summer period.