SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1993
STP19250S

An Aquatic Toxicity Test Using the Moss (Hedw) B.S.G.

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A test method was developed for aquatic toxicity using an autotroph, the moss Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) B.S.G. Regenerating moss clonal colonies were treated with various toxicants and incubated in liquid minimal medium in a growth chamber. Colonies were subjected to a test matrix of six different salt solutions (for example, aluminum sulfate, barium chloride, boric acid, cadmium chloride, cobalt chloride, and lead nitrate), an acidic leachate, and a coal combustion-limestone scrubber fly-ash leachate. After five weeks' exposure to various treatment concentrations of each substance, colony biomass (wet-dry weight) and chlorophyll (a, b, total) contents were used as criteria to judge concentration-effect relationships.

No regenerates were observed at the higher treatment levels of most toxicants. Generally, increased treatment concentrations reduced moss dry weight and chlorophyll contents (P ⩻0.05). Morphological changes were less distinct than those of cultures treated in previous studies on solid medium. Cadmium chloride, boric acid, and lead nitrate had a pronounced detrimental effect on moss dry weight and chlorophyll; fly ash and Anakeesta leachates and cobalt chloride were the least toxic at the concentrations tested according to the criteria observed. In summary, liquid-medium cultures have specific application to aquatic phytotox-icity testing because: (1) dry weight and chlorophyll-content measurements provide quantifiable response criteria for judging toxic effects; (2) colonies may be transferred to solid phase media at any time in the test period to promote vegetative stages of gametophores; (3) test systems are responsive to toxicants at small exposure volumes; (4) populations are clonal, being homogenous genetically and can be tested under transboundary states on liquid and/or solid medium; and (5) they can provide useful information on an important component of ecological communities at costs similar to those for other short-term tests.

Author Information

Morgan, EL
Center for the Management, Utilization and Protection of Water Resources and the Department of Biology Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee
Wu, Y-CA
Center for the Management, Utilization and Protection of Water Resources and the Department of Biology Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee
Swigert, JP
Young-Morgan & Associates, Inc., Franklin, Tennessee
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Details
Developed by Committee: E47
Pages: 340–352
DOI: 10.1520/STP19250S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-5234-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-1860-7