Application of the biotic ligand model to predict copper acute toxicity to Medaka fish in typical Chinese rivers.

LA50, the Lethal Accumulation of Cu on the Medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) gills that results in 50% mortality during a toxicological exposure (96 hours) in synthetic water was assessed by use of the biotic ligand model (BLM). The LA50 was employed to predict the 96 h Cu toxicity (LC50) to this fish in different natural surface waters in China. The LC50 values were predicted with errors of no more than 1.

Predicting sediment metal toxicity using a sediment biotic ligand model: methodology and initial application.

An extension of the simultaneously extracted metals/acid-volatile sulfide (SEM/AVS) procedure is presented that predicts the acute and chronic sediment metals effects concentrations. A biotic ligand model (BLM) and a pore water-sediment partitioning model are used to predict the sediment concentration that is in equilibrium with the biotic ligand effects concentration. This initial application considers only partitioning to sediment particulate organic carbon.

The biotic ligand model: a historical overview.

During recent years, the biotic ligand model (BLM) has been proposed as a tool to evaluate quantitatively the manner in which water chemistry affects the speciation and biological availability of metals in aquatic systems. This is an important consideration because it is the bioavailability and bioreactivity of metals that control their potential to cause adverse effects. The BLM approach has gained widespread interest amongst the scientific, regulated and regulatory communities because of its potential for use in developing water quality criteria (WQC) and in performing aquatic risk assessments for metals.

Extension of the biotic ligand model of acute toxicity to a physiologically-based model of the survival time of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) exposed to silver.

Chemical speciation controls the bioavailability and toxicity of metals in aquatic systems and regulatory agencies are recognizing this as they develop updated water quality criteria (WQC) for metals. The factors that affect bioavailability may be quantitatively evaluated with the biotic ligand model (BLM). Within the context of the BLM framework, the 'biotic ligand' is the site where metal binding results in the manifestation of a toxic effect.