Article: Deriving site-specific sediment quality guidelines for Hong Kong marine environments using field-based species sensitivity distributions

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TitleDeriving site-specific sediment quality guidelines for Hong Kong marine environments using field-based species sensitivity distributions
AuthorsKwok, KWH1
Bjorgesæter, A3
Leung, KMY1
Lui, GCS1
Gray, JS3
Shin, PKS2
Lam, PKS2
KeywordsField monitoring
Quantile regression
Sediment quality guideline
Species sensitivity distribution
Issue Date2008
PublisherSociety of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The Journal's web site is located at http://etc.allenpress.com/
CitationEnvironmental Toxicology And Chemistry, 2008, v. 27 n. 1, p. 226-234 [How to Cite?]
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1897/07-078.1
AbstractField data of benthic communities and contaminant loadings in marine sediments measured in parallel can be used to derive sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) using a field-based species sensitivity distribution (f-SSD) approach. Recently, SQGs have been successfully derived from f-SSDs for the Norwegian continental shelf with an extensive survey (>1 million km2) and a large data set (1,902 sampling stations with 1,944 species). The present study examined the practicality of this approach in deriving SQGs for a much smaller geographical area, namely, the marine environment of Hong Kong (sea area: 1,651 km2), making use of databases of the government of Hong Kong special administrative region. As the construction of f-SSDs requires the use of a collection of responses from individual species to a chemical gradient in sediment, data screening criteria on the minimum abundance of the species were evaluated and optimized to ensure sufficient statistical power for estimating these responses. Sediment quality guidelines were derived for nine trace metals, total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and total polychlorinated biphenyls and compared with current SQGs in developed countries. The community-adjusted hazardous concentrations of 5% and 10% of the f-SSDs were adopted to represent the threshold effects level (TEL) and predicted effects level (PEL), respectively. The TELs derived from this f-SSD approach compares favorably with current SQGs, while the derived PELs were generally lower than the current SQGs, indicating that they are more protective. The f-SSDs can be directly utilized for probabilistic risk assessment, while the field-based SQGs can be used as site-specific guidelines or integrated into current SQGs. Our results suggest that the f-SSD approach can also be applicable to small areas such as Hong Kong. © 2008 SETAC.
ISSN0730-7268
2011 Impact Factor: 2.809
2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.140
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1897/07-078.1
ISI Accession Number IDWOS:000251759500033
ReferencesReferences in Scopus
DC Field
Value
dc.contributor.authorKwok, KWH
dc.contributor.authorBjorgesæter, A
dc.contributor.authorLeung, KMY
dc.contributor.authorLui, GCS
dc.contributor.authorGray, JS
dc.contributor.authorShin, PKS
dc.contributor.authorLam, PKS
dc.date.accessioned2010-09-06T09:55:36Z
dc.date.available2010-09-06T09:55:36Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.description.abstractField data of benthic communities and contaminant loadings in marine sediments measured in parallel can be used to derive sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) using a field-based species sensitivity distribution (f-SSD) approach. Recently, SQGs have been successfully derived from f-SSDs for the Norwegian continental shelf with an extensive survey (>1 million km2) and a large data set (1,902 sampling stations with 1,944 species). The present study examined the practicality of this approach in deriving SQGs for a much smaller geographical area, namely, the marine environment of Hong Kong (sea area: 1,651 km2), making use of databases of the government of Hong Kong special administrative region. As the construction of f-SSDs requires the use of a collection of responses from individual species to a chemical gradient in sediment, data screening criteria on the minimum abundance of the species were evaluated and optimized to ensure sufficient statistical power for estimating these responses. Sediment quality guidelines were derived for nine trace metals, total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and total polychlorinated biphenyls and compared with current SQGs in developed countries. The community-adjusted hazardous concentrations of 5% and 10% of the f-SSDs were adopted to represent the threshold effects level (TEL) and predicted effects level (PEL), respectively. The TELs derived from this f-SSD approach compares favorably with current SQGs, while the derived PELs were generally lower than the current SQGs, indicating that they are more protective. The f-SSDs can be directly utilized for probabilistic risk assessment, while the field-based SQGs can be used as site-specific guidelines or integrated into current SQGs. Our results suggest that the f-SSD approach can also be applicable to small areas such as Hong Kong. © 2008 SETAC.
dc.description.natureLink_to_subscribed_fulltext
dc.identifier.citationEnvironmental Toxicology And Chemistry, 2008, v. 27 n. 1, p. 226-234 [How to Cite?]
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1897/07-078.1
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1897/07-078.1
dc.identifier.epage234
dc.identifier.hkuros140380
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000251759500033
dc.identifier.issn0730-7268
2011 Impact Factor: 2.809
2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.140
dc.identifier.issue1
dc.identifier.openurl
dc.identifier.pmid18092863
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-38049088791
dc.identifier.spage226
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/89339
dc.identifier.volume27
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherSociety of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The Journal's web site is located at http://etc.allenpress.com/
dc.publisher.placeUnited States
dc.relation.ispartofEnvironmental Toxicology and Chemistry
dc.relation.referencesReferences in Scopus
dc.subjectField monitoring
dc.subjectQuantile regression
dc.subjectSediment quality guideline
dc.subjectSpecies sensitivity distribution
dc.titleDeriving site-specific sediment quality guidelines for Hong Kong marine environments using field-based species sensitivity distributions
dc.typeArticle
Author Affiliations
  1. The University of Hong Kong
  2. City University of Hong Kong
  3. Universitetet i Oslo