Waters are more polluted than tests say
Monday, November 30, 2015 - 17:21
in Biology & Nature
Bodies of water are "sinks", and thereby bind contaminants particularly well. If even slightly toxic concentrations in water are to be detected, the growth and swimming behavior of small crustaceans, mini-snails and copepods should be used for ecotoxicological assessments. This was the conclusion of a scientist from the TUM, who carried out a number of studies on the subject in cooperation with the University of California in Davis. She also confirmed that it is more informative to test several substances in parallel on various aquatic species, rather than only carrying out individual toxicity tests.