Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Aquatic Toxicity Of Organic Compounds To Embryo-Larval Stages Of Fish And Amphibians, Jeffrey A. Black, Wesley J. Birge, Willaim E. Mcdonnell, Albert G. Westerman, Barbara A. Ramey, Donald M. Bruser

KWRRI Research Reports

Aquatic toxicity tests were conducted on 11 organic compounds considered hazardous to water resources. The toxicity of each compound was evaluated using embryo-larval stages of two to eight fish and amphibian species. Exposure was initiated at fertilization and maintained through 4 days posthatching. The animal test species exhibited varying degrees of sensitivity to the selected toxicants. Combined frequencies for mortality and teratogenesis at 4 days posthatching gave LC₅₀ ranges of 3.66 to 8.25 mg/L for benzene, 1.16 to 22.42 mg/L for carbon tetrachloride, 0.11 to 1.20 mg/L for chlorobenzene, 2.03 to > 68 mg/L for chloroform, 3.01 to 5.56 mg/L …

Low Pressure Membrane Separation Process To Remove Heavy Metal Complexes, Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Chin-Shun Cheng

KWRRI Research Reports

The overall objective of this investigation is to establish the rejection behavior of heavy metals in the presence of complexing agents, utilizing negatively charged ultrafiltration membranes. An extensive experimental investigation is conducted with Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Cu¹⁺ in the presence of cyanide, ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, and oxalates, under insignificant concentration polarization condition. The rejection dependence of the heavy metals is found to be a function of feed metal concentration, metal types, complexing agent to metal feed molar ratio, pH and ionic strength. The dependence of rejection behavior of heavy metals and complexing …

An Avoidance Response Bioassay For Aquatic Pollutants, Jeffrey A. Black, Wesley J. Birge

KWRRI Research Reports

Avoidance response bioassays were conducted with eight aquatic contaminants, including cadmium, copper, mercury, zinc, chloroform, dioctyl phthalate (DOP), trisodium nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), and phenol. Tests were performed in a dual-channel fluviarium system, and the toxicant injection procedure used provided good regulation of exposure concentrations. Juvenile stages of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus), and rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri), and tadpoles of the American toad (Bufo americanus) proved to be suitable animals for evaluating avoidance or attraction responses. The trout was the most sensitive species tested.

Avoidance was significant in tests …

Effects Of Organic Compounds On Amphibian Reproduction, Wesley J. Birge, Jeffrey A. Black, Robert A. Kuehne

KWRRI Research Reports

Aquatic toxicity tests were conducted with atrazine, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, methylene chloride, trisodium nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), and phenol. Each compound was administered to developmental stages of three to five amphibian species. Exposure was initiated at fertilization and maintained through 4 days posthatching. Test responses included lethality and teratogenesis. Different amphibian species exhibited varying degrees of tolerance to the selected compounds. Greatest tolerance usually was observed for the more broadly adapted semi-aquatic and terrestrial species (e.g., Bufo americanus, Bufo fowleri). The more sensitive amphibians usually included those species which normally are restricted to aquatic or moist habitats (e.g., Rana …

Procedures For Trace Analysis Of Dissolved Inorganic And Organic Constituents In Water, Gary D. Christian, Charles E. Matkovich, W. Lynn Schertz

KWRRI Research Reports

A study of different solvent systems for the atomic absorption determination of cobalt revealed that acetone results in best sensitivity. Acetone is the solvent of choice for the sensitive measurement of several metals. Hence, methods were investigated for the separation of acetone from water by salting out so that possible solvent extraction of metal chelates into this solvent could be performed. About two-thirds saturated calcium chloride proved to be the best system for salting out of the acetone. It is essentially a neutral salt and is in general a weakly complexing salt, resulting in minimum interference in solvent extractions. Solvent …