Single‐species acute lethal toxicity tests are not predictive of relative population and community effects of two salinity types

Human‐mediated salinity increases are occurring in freshwaters globally, with consequent negative effects on freshwater biodiversity. Salinity comprises multiple anions and cations. While total concentrations are typically used to infer effects, individual ion concentrations and ion ratios are criti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLimnology and oceanography letters Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 181 - 189
Main Authors Kefford, Ben J., Hyne, Ross V., Brooks, Andrew J., Bray, Jonathan P., Shenton, Mark, Hills, Kasey, Nichols, Susan J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.02.2023
Wiley
Subjects
Anions
Biodiversity
Cations
Chemical contaminants
Coal
Drinking water
Ecosystems
Experiments
Human influences
Invertebrates
Laboratories
Laboratory tests
Macroinvertebrates
Salinity
Seawater
Toxicity
Australia
Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia
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Summary:Human‐mediated salinity increases are occurring in freshwaters globally, with consequent negative effects on freshwater biodiversity. Salinity comprises multiple anions and cations. While total concentrations are typically used to infer effects, individual ion concentrations and ion ratios are critical in determining effects. Moreover, estimates of toxicity from single‐species laboratory tests, may not accurately predict relative effects on populations and communities. Here, we compared salinity increases from synthetic marine salts and sodium bicarbonate in an outdoor mesocosm experiment in southeastern Australia. We found different effects of salt types on stream macroinvertebrates at the population and community levels, where similar effects were predicted from single‐species laboratory tests. Our results caution against the use of single‐species laboratory‐derived toxicological data to predict both environmentally safe salinity levels and the relative effects of different salt sources on freshwater biodiversity.
Bibliography:Miguel Cañedo‐Argüelles
Associate editor
Data Availability Statement
Data are available at the Dryad repository
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.f1vhhmgx5
Author Contribution Statement
BJK, SJN, and RVH designed the project. BJK and RH contributed concept design of experiment. BJK, SJN, JPB, and KH provided the detailed experimental design. JPB, MS, and BJK conducted the experiments and collected the sample/data. BJK, RVH, and SJN are responsible for provision of funding. AB conducted the statistical analysis and produced figures and tables. BJK and AB wrote the first draft. All authors edited and approved the final version.
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ISSN:2378-2242
2378-2242
DOI:10.1002/lol2.10208