Acute toxicity of 50 metals to Daphnia magna.

Metals are essential for human life and physiological functions but may sometimes cause disorders. Therefore, we conducted acute toxicity testing of 50 metals in Daphnia magna: EC50s of seven elements (Be, Cu, Ag, Cd, Os, Au and Hg) were < 100 µg l(-1) ; EC50s of 13 elements (Al, Sc, Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Se, Rb, Y, Rh, Pt, Tl and Pb) were between 100 and 1000 µg l(-1) ; EC50s of 14 elements (Li, V, Mn, Fe, Ge, As, In, Sn, Sb, Te, Cs, Ba, W and Ir) were between 1,001 and 100,000 µg l(-1) ; EC50s of six elements (Na, Mg, K, Ca, Sr and Mo) were > 100,000 µg l(-1) ; and. 7 elements (Ti, Zr, Bi, Nb, Hf, Re and Ta) did not show EC50 at the upper limit of respective aqueous solubility, and EC50s were not obtained. Ga, Ru and Pd adhered to the body of D. magna and physically retarded the movement of D. magna. These metals formed hydroxides after adjusting the pH. Therefore, here, we distinguished this physical effect from the physiological toxic effect. The acute toxicity results of 40 elements obtained in this study were not correlated with electronegativity. Similarly, the acute toxicity results of metals including the rare metals were also not correlated with first ionization energy, atomic weight, atomic number, covalent radius, atomic radius or ionic radius.