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Chronic toxicity of a homologous series of linear alcohol ethoxylate surfactants to Daphnia magna in 21 day flow‐through laboratory exposures
Author(s) -
Gillespie W. B.,
Steinriede R. W.,
Rodgers J. H.,
Dorn P. B.,
Wong D. C. L.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
environmental toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1522-7278
pISSN - 1520-4081
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1522-7278(199907)14:3<293::aid-tox1>3.0.co;2-n
Subject(s) - homologous series , alcohol , toxicity , chemistry , environmental chemistry , toxicology , chromatography , organic chemistry , biology
The chronic toxicity to Daphnia magna Straus in 21 day flow‐through laboratory exposures was assessed for a homologous series of nonionic linear alcohol ethoxylate surfactants. Three primarily linear alcohol ethoxylate surfactants with alkyl chain distributions of C 9‐11 , C 12‐13 , and C 14‐15 , and with respective average ethoxymer groups of 6, 6.5, and 7 were tested. Mean measured surfactant exposure concentrations agreed with nominal concentrations, with average recoveries of 93, 84, and 86% (R 2 =0.99, 0.99, and 0.98) for the C 9‐11 EO6, C 12‐13 EO6.5, and C 14‐15 EO7 surfactants, respectively. Daphnia magna survival 21 day EC 50 s were 5.9, 2.2 and 1.2 mg L −1 for the C 9‐11 , C 12‐13 , and C 14‐15 surfactants, respectively. Data indicate a twofold increase in toxicity in terms of daphnid survival with each two carbon addition in alkyl chain length. Daphnid survival and reproduction were equally sensitive for the C 9‐11 and C 14‐15 surfactants, however, reproduction was more sensitive than survival for the C 12‐13 surfactant. Survival NOECs were 2.77, 1.75, and 0.79 mg L −1 while reproduction no observed effect concentrations (NOECs) were 2.77, 0.77, and 0.79 mg L −1 for the C 9‐11 , C 12‐13 , and C 14‐15 surfactants, respectively. For the surfactants studied, chronic laboratory NOECs for D. magna survival (21 day) were similar to NOECs obtained for cladoceran densities in stream mesocosm experiments (30 day exposures) indicating a direct relationship between laboratory chronic effects and field effect levels for similar organisms. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Environ Toxicol 14: 293–300, 1999