An assessment of sediment quality at the streams flowing into Izmir Bay, Aegean Sea, Turkey.
Due to municipal, industrial and nonpoint source waste discharges to streams and rivers and tendency of many chemicals to become associated with sediments. Sediments are particularly problematic near densely populated and industrialised urban areas, such as the Izmir metropolitan area in west part of Turkey. The aim of this study was to determine the potential adverse effects of sediments from five streams flowing into inner part of Izmir Bay by using sea urchin, Paracentrotus lividus embryotoxicity test and if there was any correlation between toxicity and chemical data. Toxicity tests indicated that with the exception of the smallest concentration of only one stream sediment samples (0.6 mg wet wt. mL(-1)) all sediment samples resulted in significant increases in the frequencies of developmental defects on P. lividus embryos. Analytical data showed that the sediments from five streams had chemical characteristics similar to sediments defined by other authors as polluted sediments. An important point to note was the excellent correlation between total organic carbon content of stream sediments and sea urchin P. lividus embryotoxicity data, but not with metal content.
Oral
Rahime
R
Faculty of Fisheries, Ege University, Bornova, 35100-Izmir, Turkey.
Parlak
Hatice
H
Boyacioglu
Meltem
M
Arslan
Ozlem Cakal
OC
Kucuksezgin
Filiz
F
D000818:Animals; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D012617:Sea Urchins / Q000187:drug effects; D012623:Seawater; D014421:Turkey; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*
D014873:Water Pollutants