Use and limitations of microbial bioassays for assessing copper bioavailability in the aquatic environment

Abstract

Although chemical measurement techniques and geochemical speciation modelling may detect and predict the different forms of copper in aquatic systems and hence provide some information about the likely toxicity of the water to aquatic organisms, they do not give direct quantitative data on adverse biological effects. Bioassays or toxicity tests are generic tests that use living organisms as indicators of contaminant bioavailability in aquatic systems. The microbial community, including protozoa, algae, bacteria, and fungi, provides a useful tool for directly assessing the hazard of copper in natural ecosystems. Most of our information on copper toxicity in aquatic systems comes from single-species tests using cultured organisms. However, whole community bioassays with natural phytoplankton and bacterial populations are finding increasing use. Although laboratory toxicity tests using ionic copper spiked into pristine seawater or synthetic softwater provide information on copper toxicity under controlled conditions, their usefulness for estimating bioavailable copper is limited in natural waters, where copper toxicity is ameliorated by complexation and adsorption. Careful selection of appropriately sensitive test species, bioassay endpoints, and test protocols is necessary to ensure the environmental relevance of the bioassays used. An understanding of metal speciation, metal-cell binding, mechanisms of toxicity, and limitations of the bioassays is required to understand copper bioavailability in natural waters and sediments. In this review, the use of bioassays with bacteria and microalgae for assessing copper bioavailability in marine and fresh waters and sediments is discussed, with particular emphasis on the limitations of current techniques. There is an urgent need for more environmentally relevant tests with sufficient sensitivity to detect bioavailable copper at concentrations close to water and sediment quality guideline values. Key words: bioassay, copper, metal, bioavailability, toxicity, bacteria, algae.