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      Toxicity testing: ecological relevance and relative efficacy and costs of toxicity tests in the South African context

      research-article
      , ,
      Water SA
      Water Research Commission (WRC)
      effluent, management, methodology, toxicology

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          Abstract

          The Direct Estimation of Ecological Effect Potential (DEEEP) is a suite of toxicological methods that was compiled to facilitate management of effluent discharges. DEEEP used a range of tests to assess different endpoints and test taxa from differing trophic levels. It was used at pilot scale but never adopted in South Africa formally. The use of toxicological testing in managing effluent discharge has been somewhat ad-hoc since. This study examined a range of tests for undertaking toxicological assessments of effluent from the perspectives of ecological realism, test tractability, and cost of testing. The assays assessed include some from DEEEP, some using South African test taxa, and some using commercial toxicity test kits. Results indicate that, in terms of returned endpoints, no clear difference between tests using immobilized and cultured or wild-collected test taxa was present. Culture maintenance was found to be a significant contributor to test costs where cultured test taxa were used (although culture costs are implicit in test kit costs too). Costing analysis looked at scenarios where equipment could be shared and reused, and how these contribute to laboratory costs. The research leads on to suggestions for testing implementation in laboratories while maximizing ecological realism and minimizing costs.

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          Most cited references20

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          Review on the acuteDaphnia magnatoxicity test – Evaluation of the sensitivity and the precision of assays performed with organisms from laboratory cultures or hatched from dormant eggs

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            Integrating toxicology and ecology: putting the “eco” into ecotoxicology

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              How do aquatic communities respond to contaminants? It depends on the ecological context.

              Context dependency refers to variation in ecological patterns and processes across environmental or spatiotemporal gradients. Research on context dependency in basic ecology has focused primarily on variation in the relative importance of species interactions (e.g., competition and predation) among communities. In this Focus article, the authors extend this concept to include variation in responses of communities to contaminants and other anthropogenic stressors. Because the structure of communities varies naturally along environmental gradients, their responses to contaminants may also vary. Similar to the way in which aquatic toxicologists assess abiotic factors associated with contaminant bioavailability, observations about context dependency could be used to test hypotheses about ecological mechanisms responsible for differences in sensitivity among communities. Copyright © 2012 SETAC.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                wsa
                Water SA
                Water SA
                Water Research Commission (WRC) (Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa )
                0378-4738
                1816-7950
                April 2020
                : 46
                : 2
                : 259-266
                Affiliations
                [01] Makhanda orgnameRhodes University orgdiv1Institute for Water Research orgdiv2Unilever Centre for Environmental Water Quality South Africa
                Article
                S1816-79502020000200011 S1816-7950(20)04600200011
                10.17159/wsa/2020.v46.i2.8241
                271965f3-c461-4405-87d0-1b7068967a71

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

                History
                : 30 March 2020
                : 20 September 2019
                Page count
                Figures: 0, Tables: 0, Equations: 0, References: 43, Pages: 8
                Product

                SciELO South Africa

                Categories
                Research Paper

                effluent,management,toxicology,methodology
                effluent, management, toxicology, methodology

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