Development and Application of Aquatic Toxicology Studies for the Assessment of Impacts Due to Chemical Stressors Using Non-Standard Indigenous Organisms

Established, standard aquatic toxicity test guidelines typically recommend the use of non-standard, native test species in toxicity investigations but they are rarely used. Aquatic toxicity data are summarized here from programs designed to incorporate resident/native species representative of the Gulf of Mexico from the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) testing to investigate the effects of different petroleum products (i.e., Macondo oils-MC252; crude oil, weathered oil, dispersed oil, etc.) in water related to the Deepwater Horizon incident. Toxicity data from NRDA sources are also presented in species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) for different oils and related to TPAH concentrations (total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) from field-collected water samples from the DWH incident. The most sensitive toxicity endpoint estimate values, using TPAH were from weathered oils and frequently represented by non-standard native species. These SSDs demonstrate the need for more variety in the use of test organisms to capture a comprehensive picture of adverse effects from petroleum product exposures. This is the first review of an aquatic toxicity database on water exposures to petroleum products from the Deepwater Horizon incident.