Title: The development of the Gammarus pulex feeding rate Bioassay
Author: M. Crane
Author: L. Maltby
Author: I. Johnson
Document Type: Monograph
Abstract:
The use of ecotoxicological methods to complement traditional chemical and biological (macroinvertebrate) surveys can aid in making regulatory decisions regarding water quality. This relates particularly to: examining discrepancies between chemically and biologically derived classes for river stretches; providing evidence of cause and effect in pollution investigations and tracing the source of pollution events; rapidly assessing the effects of effluent discharges on receiving waters. This report describes the results of a study carried out to develop an in situ energetic bioassay using the freshwater amphipod Gammarus pulex (L). The work described was carried out at WRc and under a subcontract at the University of Sheffield where the assay was initially developed. The mortality, feeding and respiration rates, and the Scope for Growth of G. pulex have been used to assess the effects of pollutants in laboratory and field experiments. Feeding rate has emerged as the most sensitive and cost-effective sublethal measurement. It is also ecologically relevant because it is positively related to growth rate and reproductive fitness.
Publisher: National Rivers Authority
Publication Date: 1993
Publication Place: Bristol
Subject Keywords: Ecotoxicology; Invertebrates; Environmental factors; Pollution; Pollution monitoring; Bioassays; Mortality; Feeding; Respiration; Lethal dose; Growth rate; Experimentation
Taxonomic Keywords: Gammaridae; Gammarus pulex
Extent: 80; + appendices
Permalink: http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:4287
Total file downloads: 243
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