| Autor: |
Tixier G; Independent Consultant, 360 Torrance St, Unit 810, Burlington, ON L7R 2R9, Canada E-mail: gtvoi@hotmail.com., Rochfort Q; Water Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 867 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, ON L7S 1A1, Canada., Grapentine L; Water Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 867 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, ON L7S 1A1, Canada., Marsalek J; Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden., Lafont M; Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France., Vivien R; Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology (Ecotox Centre), EPFL ENAC IIE-GE, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. |
| Abstrakt: |
Implemented for decades as part of the 'best management practices (BMPs)' for controlling urban runoff impacts on receiving waters, stormwater management ponds (SMPs) have been increasingly viewed as potential habitats for urban wildlife. However, since SMPs are subject to a lot of environmental constraints, research toward assessing their ecological quality and their actual benefits as habitats for biota is needed. In this study, the sediment toxicity of eight SMPs located in Southern Ontario, Canada was assessed using the sediment quality triad (SQT) approach. Sediment samples were collected for chemical, ecotoxicological and biological analyses. An oligochaete-based index approach (Oligochaete Index of Lake Bioindication and percentage of pollution-sensitive species) was used as the biological endpoint and integrated into a weight-of-evidence approach to assessing the general sediment quality of the ponds. Our results showed that (i) heavy metals in the sediment and (ii) chloride concentrations in the sediment interstitial water caused detrimental effects on the ecological quality of the sediments in the ponds studied. The oligochaete indices applied in this study showed value as biological endpoints to be integrated into the SQT and used for setting up sediment ecological quality goals. |
