Comparative evaluation of five toxicity tests with sediments from san francisco bay and tomales bay, california

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Abstract
The relative sensitivity, analytical precision, discriminatory power and concordance among endpoints and with sediment chemistry were compared among five sediment toxicity tests. The tests were performed with aliquots of 15 composited, homogenized sediment samples. Survival and a variety of sublethal endpoints were determined in tests performed with the amphipods Rhepoxynius abronius and Ampelisca abdita, embryos of the mussel Mytilus edulis, embryos of the urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, and the polychaete Dinophilus gyrociliatus. Each sample was also tested for trace metal and organic compound concentrations, organic carbon content and texture. Two of the five tests (survival among M. edulis and survival among R. abronius) were highly sensitive to the samples and had relatively high precision, but the results were correlated most highly with sedimentological variables. One of the tests (survival among A. abdita) was relatively insensitive, but the results were highly correlated with only the concentrations of toxic chemicals. The test with S. purpuratus indicated mutagenicity in several samples that had high hydrocarbon concentrations. The test of pore water with D. gyrociliatus was intermediate in sensitivity and precision and not correlated highly with the results from the other tests.

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