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Hyalella azteca are epibenthic invertebrates that are widely used for toxicity studies. They are reported to be more sensitive to pyrethroid insecticides than most other test species, which has prompted considerable use of this species in toxicity testing of ambient surface waters where the presence of pyrethroids is suspected. However, resident H. azteca have been found in some ambient water bodies reported to contain surface water and/or sediment pyrethroid concentrations that are toxic to laboratory reared H. azteca. This observation suggests differences in the sensitivities of laboratory reared and field populations of H. azteca to pyrethroids. The goal of the present study was to determine the sensitivities of laboratory reared and field populations of H. azteca to the pyrethroids bifenthrin and cypermethrin. Specimens of H. azteca were collected from resident populations at field sites that are subject to varied land-use activities as well as from laboratory populations. These organisms were exposed to bifenthrin- or cypermethrin-spiked water in 96-h water-only toxicity tests. The resulting data demonstrated that: 1) field-collected populations in urban and agricultural settings can be >2 orders of magnitude less sensitive to the pyrethroids than laboratory reared organisms; 2) field-collected organisms varied in their sensitivity (possibly based on land-use activities), with organisms collected from undeveloped sites exhibiting sensitivities similar to laboratory reared organisms; and 3) the sensitivity of field-collected 'tolerant' organisms increased in subsequent generations reared under laboratory conditions. Potential mechanisms for these differences are discussed. Environ Toxicol Chem 2015;34:2250-2262. © 2015 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The copper sensitivity of four saltwater invertebrates (the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis, the oyster Crassostrea virginica, the sand dollar Dendraster excentricus, and the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) was determined experimentally using chronic-estimator embryo-larval test procedures. The effect of sample dissolved organic matter (DOM) content on Cu bioavailability was determined for these species using commonly prescribed test procedures. Comparisons were made among these test results and test results reported previously for two other invertebrate species: the mussel Mytilus edulis and the copepod Eurytemora affinis. All six species exhibited a direct and significant relationship between the sample dissolved organic carbon (DOC; a surrogate measure of DOM) and either the dissolved Cu median lethal concentration (LC50) values or median effect concentration (EC50) values. This relationship is significant even when the DOM has different quality as evidenced by molecular fluorescence spectroscopy. Once normalized for the effects of DOM, the Cu sensitivity of these species from least to most sensitive were E. affinis < D. excitricus < C. virginica ≈ S. purpuratus ≈ M. edulis ≈ M. galloprovincialis. This ranking of species sensitivity differs from the saltwater species sensitivity distribution proposed in 2003 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These results support the need to account for factors that modify Cu bioavailability in future saltwater Cu criteria development efforts. More specifically, Cu saltwater species sensitivity distribution data will need to be normalized by factors affecting Cu bioavailability to assure that accurate and protective criteria are subsequently developed for saltwater species and their uses. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:311–319. © 2009 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]