Valorizzazione ecologica del saggio di inibizione della crescita algale su sedimenti marini
Author(s)
Sarni, Angela
Date Issued
March 21, 2012
Type
Doctoral Thesis
Abstract
Ecotoxicological assays are based on scale reproduction of target organisms realistic living conditions to highlight the ecological informations needed for site specific assessments and predicting real effects on ecosistems.
Actually, the increasing number of tests with a high correlation between target species and environmental matrices doesn’t encompass an algal assay specifically made to evaluate marine sediments. Considering that microphytobenthos (largely composed by benthic Diatoms) is an important part of the benthic community, it seems quite hard to understand why the only ecotoxicological algal assay available by now uses marine or freshwater phytoplankton as target species and elutriates as sediment representative matrix.
This work presents a whole sediments toxicity assay involving two microphytobenthic diatoms (Cylindrotheca closterium and Phaeodactylum tricornutm) as target species.
P. tricornutum has been chosen to test real marine sediments collected from very polluted areas of Mediterranean basin. The preliminary results have been compared to those obtained with “classical” assays on elutriates, showing that the whole sediments tests supply more differentiated effects than the elutriates ones confirming their experimental limitations and that a realistic exposure route leads to more realistic effects with higher predictive value.
Additional information
Dottorato di ricerca in Ecologia e sviluppo economico sostenibile
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