Biomedical subjects

Line E Sverdrup

Publications and source records attributed to Line E Sverdrup.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Functional and community-level soil microbial responses to zinc addition may depend on test system biocomplexity.

The effect of zinc on soil nitrification and composition of the microbial community in soil was investigated using a full factorial experiment with five zinc concentrations and four levels of biological complexity (microbes only, microbes and earthworms (Eisenia fetida), microbes and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum var. Macho), and microbes, ryegrass and earthworms). After 6 weeks of exposure, the activity of soil nitrifying bacteria was measured and the microbial community structure was characterized by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. Soil nitrification and several PLFA markers were significantly influenced by either zinc addition and/or the presence of earthworms or ryegrass, and one of the most pronounced changes was the increase of fungi and decrease of bacteria with increasing concentrations of zinc. Of particular interest, however, was the potential interaction between the presence of plants and/or earthworms and the effect of zinc, which the factorial study design allowed us to explore. Such an effect was observed in two cases: Earthworms reduced the positive effect of zinc on the fungal biomass (ANOVA, p=0.03), and the effect of earthworms on the soil nitrification activity depended on zinc concentration (ANOVA, p<0.05). The effect of earthworm presence was not very large, but it does show that multispecies tests might give information about metal toxicity or bioavailability that cannot be predicted from single-species tests.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2006

Benzo(a)pyrene shows low toxicity to three species of terrestrial plants, two soil invertebrates, and soil-nitrifying bacteria.

We examined the toxicity of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) to several standard test organisms including the seed emergence and early life-stage growth of three terrestrial plants (Trifolium pratense, Lolium perenne, and Brassica alba), the survival and reproduction of enchytraeids (Enchytraeus crypticus), and the nitrifying ability of soil bacteria. To also have a look at possible food-chain effects, we included a two-species reproduction test with predatory mites (Hypoaspis aculeifer) and collembolan (Folsomia fimetaria) prey. No effect or only weak effects even at very high BaP concentrations were observed for all tests. None of the soil invertebrates were affected within the concentration range tested (up to 947 mgkg(-1)). For soil-nitrifying bacteria, significant effects were recorded at 977 mgkg(-1), leaving a no observable effect concentration (NOEC) of 293 mgkg(-1). BaP did not affect seed emergence for any of the plants, but the growth of B. alba was significantly reduced at the highest concentration tested (375 mgkg(-1)), leaving a NOEC of 69 mgkg(-1). Compared to a number of other polycyclic aromatic compounds previously tested in the same soil type, BaP is generally less toxic.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon ecotoxicity data for developing soil quality criteria.

With the overall perspective of calculating soil quality criteria (SQC) for the group of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the existing ecotoxicity data for the soil compartment have been reviewed. The majority of data useful in the context of deriving SQC are of recent origin. Soil quality criteria are considered valuable tools for assessing the environmental risk of contamination, as they may give guidance on concentration limits for various chemicals to protect the function and structure of ecosystems. Soil quality criteria for soil-dwelling species were calculated using various assumptions and two internationally accepted methods, i.e., application of assessment factors and species sensitivity distributions, respectively. It was suggested to derive ecotoxicological soil quality criteria, which focus on the lower molecular weight PAHs, i.e., those with log Kow values lower than 5.5 or 6; this is the log Kow range where a cutoff in toxicity for terrestrial species is expected for narcotic substances. Predicted values from the two methods were similar. Calculations showed that, for four individual PAHs of three or four rings, SQC fall in the range of 1.0 and 2.5 mg kg(-1). However, as no individual PAH is fond alone it is suggested to use a sum criterion for a group of PAHs instead. The different possibilities to calculate such a sum criterion are discussed. Based on toxicity data presented here and the average abundance of different PAHs in nearly 1000 Danish soil samples, an ecotoxicological soil quality criterion of 25 mg kg(-1) dry weight for the sum of the eight PAHs acenaphthene, fluorene, anthracene, phenanthrene, pyrene, fluoranthene, benz[a]anthracene, and chrysene is suggested.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Effects of the antibacterial agents tiamulin, olanquindox and metronidazole and the anthelmintic ivermectin on the soil invertebrate species Folsomia fimetaria (Collembola) and Enchytraeus crypticus (Enchytraeidae).

Veterinary pharmaceutical products such as antibacterial agents and antiparasitics are widely used to control diseases and promote production in the agricultural sector. Exposure of non-target organisms are a likely result of using manure from treated live stocks or from dung dropped on the field by grazing animals. The aim of this study was to determine the toxic threshold levels of three antibacterial agents (tiamulin, olanquindox and metronidazole) and one anthelmintic (ivermectin) to two species of soil dwelling organisms (springtails and enchytraeids), that are often found in bio-solids such as manure or dung. The antibacterial agents were not toxic to adults and effects on reproduction occurred generally above concentrations normally found in soil or dung. The threshold values for toxicity (10% reduced reproduction or EC10 values) were in the range of 61-111 mg kg(-1) dry soil for springtails and 83-722 mg kg(-1) dry soil for enchytraeids. Ivermectin was significantly more toxic with EC10 values of 0.26 mg kg(-1) dry soil for the springtails and 14 mg kg(-1) dry soil for the enchytraeids. A comparison of these results with rough estimates of likely and worse case environmental concentrations indicates a potential risk of ivermectin to non-target species such as springtails and enchytraeids, whereas direct toxic effect of antibacterial agents is very unlikely to occur at environmental realistic concentrations. However, indirect effects of antibacterial agents driven through changes in the food web cannot be abolished at this stage.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Toxicity of eight polycyclic aromatic compounds to red clover (Trifolium pratense), ryegrass (Lolium perenne), and mustard (Sinapsis alba).

The effect of eight polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) on the seed emergence and early life-stage growth of three terrestrial plants (Sinapsis alba, Trifolium pratense and Lolium perenne) were studied in a greenhouse, using a Danish agricultural soil with an organic carbon content of 1.6%. After three weeks of exposure, seed emergence and seedling weight (fresh weight and dry weight) were determined. Exposure concentrations were verified with chemical analysis. The substances tested were four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (fluoranthene, pyrene, phenanthrene and fluorene), the N-, S-, and O-substituted analogues of fluorene (carbazole, dibenzothiophene and dibenzofuran, respectively), and the quinoline representative acridine. Seedling growth was a far more sensitive endpoint than seed emergence for all substances. Concentrations estimated to give a 20% reduction of seedling fresh weight (EC20-values) ranged from 36 to 290 mgkg(-1) for carbazole, 43 to 93 mgkg(-1) for dibenzofuran, 37 to 110 mgkg(-1) for dibenzothiophene, 140 to 650 mgkg(-1) for fluoranthene, 55 to 380 mgkg(-1) for fluorene, 37 to 300 mgkg(-1) for phenanthrene, and 49 to 1300 mgkg(-1) for pyrene. For acridine, no toxicity was observed within the concentration range tested (1-1000 mgkg(-1)). As illustrated by the EC20-values, there was a rather large difference in sensitivity between the species, and T. pratense was the most sensitive of the species tested.

Acridines↗

PubMed2002

Soil ecotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in relation to soil sorption, lipophilicity, and water solubility.

A data set was generated aiming to predict the toxicity of PAHs to soil organisms. Toxicity data include the effects of 16 PAHs on the survival and reproduction of the soil-dwelling springtail Folsomia fimetaria. The results show that only PAHs with reported log Kow values < or = 5.2 (i.e., naphthalene, acenaphthene, acenaphthylene, anthracene, phenanthrene, fluorene, pyrene, and fluoranthene) significantly affected the survival or reproduction of the test organisms. Threshold values for the toxicity of the individual PAHs could be expressed as pore-water concentrations by the use of reported organic carbon-normalized soil-pore-water partitioning coefficients (Koc values). For the PAHs with a log Kow < or = 5.2, toxicity significantly increased with increasing lipophilicity of the substances (r2 = 0.67; p = 0.012; n = 8), suggesting a narcotic mode of toxic action for most substances. However, the position of anthracene in the regression plot indicated a more specific mode of toxic action than narcosis, and removing this data point yielded the following regression equation: log EC10 (micromol/L) = -0.97 log Kow + 4.0 (r2 = 0.80; p = 0.006; n = 7). Using this quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) to calculate threshold values for the toxicity of the remaining nontoxic substances (benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, perylene, and indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene), the absence of toxicity could, in most cases, be explained by a limited water solubility, indicating that these substances do act by narcosis as the mode of toxic action and that their toxicity is governed by concentrations in the pore-water. The results provide important input to future model predictions of the ecological risk posed by PAH contaminated sites.

Adsorption↗

PubMed2002

Joint toxicity of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates and pyrene on Folsomia fimetaria.

Surfactants may enhance the biodegradation of hydrophobic substances in soils. This has partly been attributed to an increase in the bioavailability, brought about by the presence of surfactants. The aim of this study was to examine the ecotoxicological effects of the detergent linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pyrene, alone and in combination, using the survival and reproduction of the collembolan Folsomia fimetaria as endpoints. The EC(50) and EC(10) were 803 and 161 mg kg(-1) for LAS, and 23 and 15 mg kg(-1) for pyrene. If LAS was able to increase the bioavailability of pyrene to springtails, it was expected that the combined effect of the two substances would exceed the effect found for each of the compounds tested separately. However, the results showed no effect of LAS on the toxicity of pyrene in the concentration range tested (1-750 mg LAS kg(-1) dry weight). Both the toxic unit concept and the isobologram method indicated that an additive approach would be the most useful when assessing the risk of these two compounds.

Alkanesulfonic Acids↗

PubMed2002

Relative sensitivity of one freshwater and two marine acute toxicity tests as determined by testing 30 offshore E & P chemicals.

Acute toxicity of 30 offshore E & P (Exploration and Production) chemicals was measured using the three standard test organisms Daphnia magna (freshwater cladoceran), Acartia tonsa (marine copepod) and Skeletonema costatum (marine diatom alga). Test chemicals included 20 water-soluble and 10 (partially) non-soluble products. For 22 out of the 30 chemicals, the difference in sensitivity between the three tests varied within one order of magnitude. A very good correlation was found between the two marine tests (r = 0.96, P < 0.01, n = 30), and a correlation coefficient of r = 0.78 (P < 0.01, n = 30) was found between D. magna and both A. tonsa and S. costatum, individually. When the comparison of D. magna and A. tonsa sensitivity was based only on the water-soluble chemicals, a significantly higher correlation was obtained (r = 0.84, n = 20), indicating that the sample preparation method used for the (partially) non-soluble chemicals (the water accommodated fraction (WAF) method) induces additional variation between tests performed with different test media. (Partially) non-soluble chemicals are characterised by phase separation or precipitation at the concentrations used for testing. In a WAF-based test, each test concentration/exposure level is prepared separately, and following mixing and separation, only the water phase is used for testing. Toxicity is related to the amount of substance originally added to the mixing vessels. For 25 of the 30 chemicals, D. magna was found to be less sensitive than the marine copepod by a factor >2. The generally higher sensitivity of the marine toxicity tests compared to the Daphnia test emphasise the importance of using marine data for environmental hazard classification as well as for environmental risk assessment purposes.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Studies on the effect of soil aging on the toxicity of pyrene and phenanthrene to a soil-dwelling springtail.

Soil samples spiked with five concentrations of pyrene and phenanthrene were aged for 0, 10, 40, and 120 d before toxicity was investigated using a standardized bioassay with the soil-dwelling collembolan Folsomia fimetaria L. Toxic effects were measured as reductions in survival and reproductive output after 3 weeks of exposure. Both pyrene and phenanthrene were degraded in the test system during storage, phenanthrene to a higher degree than pyrene. However, when toxic effects of the tested substances were calculated on the basis of measured concentrations of the parent compounds, toxicity was unaffected by storage for up to 120 d. Many studies have shown a negative correlation between aging and the biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), indicating a reduction in the bioavailability of PAHs to micro-organisms with time. Our results indicate that a reduction in toxicity, as related to the measured concentrations of the parent compounds in the soil, may not always be expected for aged soils. Provided that metabolites of pyrene and phenanthrene did not significantly contribute to the toxicity in aged soil samples, a possible explanation for the absence of aging effects is the high test concentrations used in combination with the low content of organic carbon (1.6%) in the test soil.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Effects of eight polycyclic aromatic compounds on the survival and reproduction of Enchytraeus crypticus (Oligochaeta, Clitellata).

The effects of eight polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) on the survival and reproduction of the enchytraeid worm Enchytraeus crvpticus were investigated in an agricultural soil with an organic carbon content of 1.6%. With the exception of acridine, which showed a strong binding to the test soil and a subsequent low toxicity, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and neutral N-, S-, O-monosubstituted analogues showed a similar toxicity to the enchytraeids. Concentrations estimated to give a 10% reduction of reproductive output (EC10 values) were based on measured initial concentrations and were, for acridine, 310 mg/kg; for carbazole, 19 mg/kg; for dibenzofuran, 36 mg/kg, for dibenzothiophene, 40 and 45 mg/kg (two tests); for fluoranthene, 15 mg/kg; for fluorene, 25 mg/kg; for phenanthrene, 40 mg/kg; and for pyrene, 11 mg/kg. Using reported soil-pore-water partitioning coefficients for the substances in question, equilibrium pore-water concentrations could be estimated from the total soil concentrations. Calculated EC10 values, expressed as log10(mmol/L pore water), were negatively related to the lipophilicity (log Kow) of the compounds (r2 = 0.58; p = 0.027, n = 8), thus indicating a rather nonspecific (narcotic) mode of toxic action for these compounds. When compared with literature ecotoxicity data for a springtail (Folsomia fimetaria) tested in the same soil type, enchytraeids generally seem less sensitive.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Relative sensitivity of three terrestrial invertebrate tests to polycyclic aromatic compounds.

In a project investigating the ecotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), we have previously reported on the sublethal toxicity of eight PACs to springtails (Folsomia fimetaria) and enchytraeids (Enchytraeus crypticus). The model substances included four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and four N-S-O-heterocyclics. Here, new data are presented on the effects of PACs on the survival and growth of the earthworm Eisenia veneta, showing that, in general, earthworm growth was reduced at PAC concentrations above 25 mg/kg soil dry weight. The E. veneta tests were performed using the same soil type and very similar test conditions as for the F. fimetaria and E. crypticus tests, thus providing a good opportunity to compare the sensitivity of these three organisms. Species sensitivity was examined using the 50% reduction in survival (LC50 values) and no-observable-effect concentrations (NOEC values) for growth or reproduction as endpoints. The difference between the least and most sensitive species was generally much larger for LC50 values as compared to the NOEC values, suggesting a higher degree of uncertainty when extrapolating from one species to another for the LC50 data. For the NOEC data, relatively small differences in sensitivity was observed, but as a rather consistent pattern, F. fimetaria was the most sensitive and E. crypticus the least sensitive species. However, one substance (acridine) showed specific toxicity toward E. veneta, which was more sensitive than the two other species by more than one order of magnitude.

Animals↗