title: Do water quality criteria based on nonnative species provide appropriate protection for native species?
abstract: The potential use of toxicity data for nonnative species to derive water quality criteria is controversial because it is sometimes questioned whether criteria based on species from one geographical region provide appropriate protection for species in a different region. However, this is an important concept for the development of Chinese water quality criteria or standards. Data were assembled on 38 chemicals for which values were available for both native and nonnative species. Sensitivities of these organisms were compared based on the 5% hazardous concentration values and the species sensitivity distribution from a literature review. Results of the present study's analysis showed that there is approximately 74% certainty that use of nonnative species to generate water quality criteria would be sufficiently protective of aquatic ecosystems in China. Without applying any assessment factor to the water quality criteria generated from nonnative species, the uncertainty would be 26% when the native Chinese species might be under protection. Applying an assessment factor of 10 would offer adequate protection to native Chinese species for approximately 90% of tested chemicals and thus reduce the uncertainty from 26% to 10%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Technique, China National Environmental Monitoring Center, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Technique, China National Environmental Monitoring Center, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yeyao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Technique, China National Environmental Monitoring Center, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yibing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Kaifeng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Shijiazhuang Environmental Monitoring Center, Shijiazhuang, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.|State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.|Department of Zoology and Center for Integrative Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.|School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.|Department of Biology and Chemistry and State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Giesy
authors.affiliation: The Swire Institute of Marine Science and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Kenneth M Y
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Leung
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002681:China; D017753:Ecosystem; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D060753:Water Quality / Q000592:standards*
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances
keywords: Chinese native species; Species sensitivity distribution; Water quality criteria