Abstract
RDX was not acutely toxic to the green alga Selenastrum capricornutum when tested at the solubility limit of the compound in algal assay media. A maximum reduction of 38% in cell density occurred after a 96-h exposure to 36.7 mg L−1; thus, an EC50 could not be determined. The lowest-observed-effect concentration (LOEC) and no-observed-effect concentration (NOEC) for the green alga were 4.8 and 0.5 mg L−1 (reduction in cell density), respectively, when chronic end points were used to analyze the data. A comparison of the data in this study with RDX toxicity data from the literature for the diatom Navicula pelliculosa, and the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabeana flos-aquae shows that S. capricornutum is the most sensitive to RDX. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) numerical water quality criterion Final Plant Value based on the green alga data should protect the above algal groups.
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Burton, D.T., Turley, S.D. & Peters, G.T. The toxicity of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) to the freshwater green alga Selenastrum capricornutum . Water Air Soil Pollut 76, 449–457 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00482717
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00482717