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. 2019 Jul;103(1):120-126.
doi: 10.1007/s00128-018-2441-2. Epub 2018 Sep 24.

Acute Toxicity and Hazardous Concentrations of Zinc to Native Freshwater Organisms Under Different pH Values in China

X F Li  1   2 , P F Wang  1 , C L Feng  3 , D Q Liu  2 , J K Chen  2   4 , F C Wu  2
Affiliations

Acute Toxicity and Hazardous Concentrations of Zinc to Native Freshwater Organisms Under Different pH Values in China

X F Li et al. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

Zinc bioavailability to aquatic organisms varies greatly under different pH values. In the present study, five native species in China and four common international test species were selected to investigate the influence of changing pH on acute zinc toxicity. The results showed that the higher trophic levels exhibited increasing sensitivity to zinc as pH decreased. However, when the pH value was between 8 and 11, the acute toxicity of zinc was relatively constant. In addition, by using a species-sensitivity distribution (SSD) method, the short-term hazardous concentrations of zinc at different pH values (based on the 5th percentiles of the pH-specific SSDs) were determined to be 17.26 µg/L (pH 4), 48.31 µg/L (pH 5), 80.34 µg/L (pH 6) and 230.6 µg/L (pH 7), respectively. The present study provides useful information for deriving water quality criteria and assessing the risks of metals in the near future.

Keywords: Hazardous concentration; Metal bioavailability; Native aquatic species; Water quality criteria; Zinc; pH.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The sensitivity of the experimental species to zinc toxicity (pH 4–7). Data are expressed as mean ± SD; *p < 0.05
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparisons of species sensitivity distributions for zinc under different pH values
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