In-situ bioassays using caged bivalves

It is important to make the distinction between chemical measurements to assess bioaccumulation potential versus biological measurements to assess potential bioeffects because bioaccumulation is not a bioeffect. Caging provides a unique opportunity to make synoptic measurements of each and facilitates making these measurements over space and time. Measuring bioaccumulation in resident and transplanted bivalves has probably been the most frequently used form of an in-situ bioassay because bivalves concentrate chemicals in their tissues. They are also easy to collect, cage, and measure. The authors have refined bivalve bioassay methods by minimizing the size range of test animals, making repetitive measurements of the same individuals, and standardizing test protocols for a variety of applications. They are now attempting to standardize criteria for accepting and interpreting data in the same way that laboratory bioassays have been standardized. Growth measurements can serve two purposes in this assessment strategy: (1) An integrated biological response endpoint that is easily quantifiable and with significance to the population, and (2) A means of calibrating bioaccumulation by assessing the relative health and physiological state of tissues that have accumulated the chemicals. In general, the authors have found the highest bioconcentration factors associated with the highest growth rates, themore » highest concentrations ({micro}g/g) of chemicals in juvenile mussels, and the highest chemical content ({micro}g/animal) in adult mussels. Without accounting for possible dilution of chemical concentrations by tissue growth or magnification through degrowth, contaminant concentrations can be misleading. Examples are provided for the Sudbury River in Massachusetts (Elliptio complanata), San Diego Bay (Mytilus galloprovincialis), and the Harbor Island Superfund Site in Puget Sound (Mytilus trossulus).« less