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Measured and predicted acute toxicity of phenanthrene and MC252 crude oil to vertically migrating deep-sea crustaceans

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Abstract

Deep-water column micronekton play a key role in oceanic food webs and represent an important trophic link between deep- and shallow-water ecosystems. Thus, the potential impacts of sub-surface hydrocarbon plumes on these organisms are critical to developing a more complete understanding of ocean-wide effects resulting from deep-sea oil spills. This work was designed to advance the understanding of hydrocarbon toxicity in several ecologically important deep-sea micronekton species using controlled laboratory exposures aimed at determining lethal threshold exposure levels. The current study confirmed the results previously determined for five deep-sea micronekton by measuring lethal threshold levels for phenanthrene between 81.2 and 277.5 μg/L. These results were used to calibrate the target lipid model and to calculate a critical target lipid body burden for each species. In addition, an oil solubility model was used to predict the acute toxicity of MC252 crude oil to vertically migrating crustaceans, Janicella spinacauda and Euphausiidae spp., and to compare the predictions with results of a 48-h constant exposure toxicity test with passive-dosing. Results confirmed that the tested deep-sea micronekton appear more sensitive than many other organisms when exposed to dissolved oil, but baseline stress complicated interpretation of results.

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Data availability

Data are publicly available through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC) at https://data.gulfresearchinitiative.org (DOI: 10.7266/N7736PBN and 10.7266/N77M06F3).

Abbreviations

TLM:

target lipid model

CTLBB:

critical target lipid body burden

K OW :

octanol-water partition coefficient

∆c :

chemical class correction factor

WSF:

water soluble fraction

TU:

toxic unit

LL50:

loading resulting in 50% mortality

PDMS:

polydimethylsiloxane

WAF:

water accommodated fraction

VOA:

volatile organic analyte

DCM:

dichloromethane

EOE:

estimated oil equivalents

TPAH:

total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

drc:

dose-response curve

LC50:

aqueous concentration causing 50% mortality

ED:

effect dose

DWH :

Deepwater Horizon

MAH:

monoaromatic hydrocarbon

VOC:

volatile organic compound

DOC:

dissolved organic carbon

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Funding

This research was made possible by a grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative to AK, titled “Deep-sea Risk Assessment and Species Sensitivity to WAF, CEWAF, and Dispersant.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, Nova Southeastern University, Dania, FL, 33312, USA

    Nicholas R. Turner, D. Abigail Renegar, Tamara M. Frank & Bernhard M. Riegl

  2. Geochemical and Environmental Research Group, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77845, USA

    Gopal Bera, José L Sericano, Stephen Sweet & Anthony H. Knap

Authors
  1. Nicholas R. Turner
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  2. Gopal Bera
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  3. D. Abigail Renegar
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  4. Tamara M. Frank
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  5. Bernhard M. Riegl
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  6. José L Sericano
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  7. Stephen Sweet
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  8. Anthony H. Knap
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Organisms were collected by Tamara Frank and Anthony Knap. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Nicholas Turner, Gopal Bera, and D. Abigail Renegar. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Nicholas Turner, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nicholas R. Turner.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

The file (DTOX Oil SI.docx) is available free of charge and contains detailed information on the speciated analysis of oil, additional dose response curves and threshold levels not in the text, individual hydrocarbon measurements during testing, and composition inputs to each model used (DOCX 400 kb)

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Turner, N.R., Bera, G., Renegar, D.A. et al. Measured and predicted acute toxicity of phenanthrene and MC252 crude oil to vertically migrating deep-sea crustaceans. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 45270–45281 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10436-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10436-5

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