Interlaboratory assessment of marine bioassays to evaluate the environmental quality of coastal sediments in Spain. VI. General analysis of results and conclusions of the exercise

Abstract

To ensure that toxicity bioassays comply with national criteria, an interlaboratory study was carried out that focussed mainly on the development, optimization and validation of methods for dredged material toxicity assessment. The performance of these techniques was assessed in a validation study and the results were compared with the traditional chemical characterization. This study included two phases and showed promising results in particular for the Microtox® bioassay, the bioassay using crustacean amphipods and the embryo-larval development bioassay using sea urchins. These tests seem feasible and give useful information for dredged material management. Moreover, to evaluate sediment quality, the chemical concentration of the contaminants of concern and toxicity test endpoints were linked using multivariate analysis. The results of this analysis showed that the toxic responses were correlated to different contaminants measured in the sediments.

Keywords

• ecotoxicology
• sediment toxicity
• multivariate analysis
• sediment quality guidelines
• dredged material management