Growth of an amphipod and a bivalve in uncontaminated sediments: Implications for chronic toxicity assessments

This study assessed the sensitivity of the amphipod Chaetocorophium cf. lucasi, an inhabitant of New Zealand estuarine muddy sediments, and of the bivalve Macomona liliana, commonly found in New Zealand sandflats, to sediment particle-size distribution, total organic carbon, total organic nitrogen and water content. Growth and survival were evaluated after different test exposure times using laboratory-prepared natural sediment mixtures of sand and mud. The results suggest that amphipod survival was affected by the type of sand more than by the concentration of sand in the sediment samples. In samples with high survival rates, amphipod growth was impaired in sediments with higher sand proportions after a 10-day exposure, but after longer periods (28 or 30 days) there were no significant differences among treatments which had ≤76% sand. Bivalve survival and growth were not significantly affected by different natural sediment characteristics. Test duration for chronic toxicity tests with the bivalve M. liliana and the amphipod C. cf. lucasi should be at least 28 days for the detection of significant growth relative to the initial size.