Washington State Department of Ecology

Publication Summary

Title	Review of Sediment Management Standards Bioassay Protocols
Month-Year Published	April 1995
Online Availability	View this publication in Acrobat PDF format 1637 kilobytes, requires version 4.0 or later of Adobe Acrobat Reader Software get Acrobat Reader
Short Description	Ecology adopted the Sediment Management Standards (SMS) Chapter 173-204 WAC in March 1991, establishing Ecology′s requirements for monitoring sediment quality in the state of Washington. Biological effects criteria were established based on Amphipod, Larval, Juvenile Polychaete, and Microtox-Saline Extract sediment bioassays as identified in the Puget Sound Estuary Program (PSEP) Bioassay Protocols. A review of the SMS bioassay suite was undertaken in preparation for a scheduled review and possible revision of the SMS in 1995. (Also see abstract below)
Publication Number	95-318
Author(s)	Stinson, M.
Print Availability	Request from the program.
Number of pages	32 pp.
Keywords	ammonia, bioassay, biological, methods, protocol, Puget Sound, recommendations, salinity, sediment, standards, sulfide
Abstract	Long Description
	Ecology adopted the Sediment Management Standards (SMS) Chapter 173-204 WAC in March 1991, establishing Ecology′s requirements for monitoring sediment quality in the state of Washington. Biological effects criteria were established based on Amphipod, Larval, Juvenile Polychaete, and Microtox-Saline Extract sediment bioassays as identified in the Puget Sound Estuary Program (PSEP) Bioassay Protocols. A review of the SMS bioassay suite was undertaken in preparation for a scheduled review and possible revision of the SMS in 1995. Issues identified requiring attention included: Effects of non-treatment factors (grain size distribution, salinity, ammonia, and sulfides) on test outcome Need for review of the control performance standard and adoption of a reference sediment performance standard for Larval bioassays Need for review of the endpoints required for the Juvenile Polychaete test, and adoption of additional performance standards Problems with sensitivity of the Microtox-Saline Extract test Recommendations for resolution of these issues are discussed.

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