Authors: Zai S Yan Ying Hu He L Jiang
Publish Date: 2011/06/04
Volume: 87, Issue: 2, Pages: 129-133
Abstract
A study was conducted to determine the response of the rooted submersed macrophyte Vallisneria spiralis to phenanthrene in freshwater sediments with initial phenanthrene concentrations from 0 to 80 mg kg−1 dry sediment The sensitivity of various morphological endpoints was evaluated after 90 days of exposure The most sensitive toxicity test endpoints were those that reflected root growth Toxicological sensitivity of the endpoints changed with the effect level selected The toxicity threshold from a plot of the EC10 values was 1–2 orders of magnitude lower than those calculated for the threshold from plots of the EC25 or EC50 values In addition stimulatory responses hormesis on root growth were observed at subtoxic concentrations of phenanthrene and a hormetic model should thus be incorporated for ecological risk assessmentThis work was supported financially by the National Natural Science foundation of China Grant No40971279 and 51079139 Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of SciencesKZCX2EW314 and the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China 973 Program No2008CB418005
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