Thallium toxicity to temperate and tropical marine organisms: Derivation of water quality guidelines to protect marine life

Mar Pollut Bull. 2023 Jul:192:114964. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114964. Epub 2023 May 16.

Abstract

A lack of thallium (Tl) toxicity data for marine organisms has hampered the development of water quality guidelines for protecting marine life and assessing ecological hazard/risk. This study assessed the toxicity (EC10/EC50) of Tl in natural seawater (salinity 34 psu and pH 8.05) to 26 functionally diverse marine organisms (19 phyla from five trophic levels) from a variety of temperate and tropical coastal marine habitats. EC10 values ranged from 3.0 μg/L (copepod, Acartia tranteri) to 489 μg/L (cyanobacterium, Cyanobium sp.), while EC50 values ranged from 9.7 μg/L to 1550 μg/L. Thallium(I) was the dominant (86-99 %) oxidation state in test waters across the range of EC10 and EC50 values. Thallium toxicity (EC10/EC50) did not differ between temperate and tropical marine organisms. New, reliable, long-term Tl water quality guidelines were derived using species sensitivity distributions (with model-averaging) to protect marine life in Australia (e.g., 3.9 μg/L for 95 % species protection).

Keywords: Binding affinity; EC10; HC5; Seawater; Speciation; Species sensitivity distribution.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Aquatic Organisms
  • Copepoda*
  • Seawater / chemistry
  • Thallium / toxicity
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis
  • Water Quality

Substances

  • Thallium
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical