Reproducibility of spiked-sediment bioassays using the marine benthic amphipod, Corophium volutator

Corophium volutator (Pallas; Amphipoda: Corophiidae) is an ecologically important representative of the infauna of marine sediments and is widely distributed along the north-east American and the west European coasts. Methods for conducting short-term toxicity tests with lindane-spiked sediment using this species were developed. Corophium volutator were used in 10-d lindane-spiked sediment tests conducted on seven occasions throughout the year, to investigate the repeatability of test methods and to quantify differences in sensitivity for lindane due to seasonal field sampling. The 10-d LC50 values found for lindane ranged from 0.78 to 1.49 μg/g dry weight (dw), a relatively small range. Higher values were found in the months of April 1994 and April 1995 (1.46 and 1.49 μg/g, respectively). Positive controls conducted with cadmium (aqueous phase) also revealed lower sensitivity of amphipods in those months. The results however, show that a factor of two difference in LC50 values among tests conducted in different seasons was within the range of expected variability. A study on the size-structure of the wild amphipod population indicated that animals of all size-classes were available throughout the whole year except for the months of April and May. Experiments conducted with organisms of different length-classes revealed that differences in sensitivity to lindane were not size-related. The present study also supports the use of field-collected organisms of ecological relevance, such as C. volutator, in ecotoxicological studies.