• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.23 no.2 s.58
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• pp.146-151
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• 2005

Recent studies indicated the utility of whole effluent assessment as a measure to control discharge of toxic effluents to receiving water in Korea. However, most studies have been focussed on acute lethal effects of toxic wastewater with little consideration of chronic sublethal impacts which are of growing concern in protecting aquatic ecosystem. We conducted acute and chronic toxicity tests with effluents discharged from five different dyeing plants in Gyeong-gi province using a marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri and a freshwater macroinvertebrate Daphnia magna to demonstrate the importance of assessing chronic sublethal effects. Various levels of acute and chronic toxicities were observed in many samples tested in this study. In 21-d chronic toxicity tests using D. magna all samples showed effects on reproduction and growth. Notable mortalities were also noted in three out of five effluents. The result of the Microtox assay indicated that acute microbial toxicity existed in effluents from two out of five plants and acute daphnid toxicity was observed in only one effluent. The result of this study clearly suggests chronic toxicity tests are more suitable to assess biological effects of effluents because it was shown from this study that even an effluent with no acute toxicity could cause chronically lethal and/or sublethal adverse effects on aquatic biota which may affect the population dynamics in aquatic ecosystem.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.117-128
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• 2004

The influence of different feeding rates of three green algae on growth and reproduction in four Korean cladocera, Daphnia sp., Daphnia obtusa, Moina macrocopa, and Simocephalus vetulus was investigated. The growth and reproduction rates of Daphnia sp. fed Chlorella vulgaris cells were significantly increased than those of daphnid fed Senedesmus subspicatus and Selenastrum carpricornutum. The total offsprings of Daphnia sp. fed $25\times10^4$ and $50\times10^4$ cells Chlorella vulgaris for 21days were $124{\pm}2.8$ and $168{\pm}22.1$, respectively. The Daphnia obtusa fed $25\times10^4$ and $50\times10^4$ cells Selenastrum carpricornutum was shown good reproduction rates, $72.2{\pm}7.9$ and $79.6{\pm}22.9$, respectively. The Moina macrocopa fed $25\times10^4$ and $50\times10^4$ cells Senedesmus subspicatus as well as Simocephalus vetulus and $25\times10^4$ and $50\times10^4$ cells Chlorella vulgaris were shown good reproduction rates. All of algae tested were sufficient as a good diet for Korean Cladocerans in this study. However, the preferred alga was Chlorella vulgaris and the optimal feeding concentrations were $2.5\times10^5\sim5\times10^5$ cells/mL, because the alga was shown most stable and generally high production rates in all cladocerans tested.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.281-289
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• 2021

Commercially used disposable cups undergo fragmentation in the environment and become microplastics (MPs). These MPs can be ingested by aquatic organisms and cause a range of adverse effects. We assessed the acute and chronic toxicity of disposable cup-derived MP fragments in Daphnia magna. MP fragments were identified as a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fragment with a size of 33.18 ± 7.76 ㎛. The presence of three additives including 1- Propanone. 1-phenyl-3-[2-(phenylmethoxy)phenyl]-, p-Xylene and ethylbenzene was analyzed from MP fragments. The 48 h acute toxicity revealed that 20 % of immobilization and mortality were found at the highest concentration of PET MP (200 mg L^-1). The 21 d chronic toxicity revealed that PET MP fragments significantly (p < 0.05) more reduced survival rate (31 %), total offspring (52 %) in D. magna compared with control group. The developmental abnormality of offspring (3.5%) by PET MP fragments was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than control groups (0.3%). These results are possibly induced by gut blocking by ingestion of MP fragments and their longer retention time. These findings indicate that the fragmentation of disposable cups (PET polymers) into small-sized MP fragments pose a significant ecological risk to aquatic organisms. Further studies are required to elucidate the underlying toxicity mechanisms.