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Reference dose (RfD) is an estimate of a daily dose that individual can be exposed chronically without obvious deleterious effects during a lifetime. In the area of toxicology, researchers always use the traditional approach by employing NOAEL/LOAEL or the benchmark dose (BMD) and other dose-response approaches to estimate RfD. These methods have, despite their typicalness, certain limitations. In this study, we present a novel method of the estimation of reference dose without experiments. The information of the organic chemicals is available from the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) of USEPA. Molecular descriptors for each molecular structure were calculated by an integrated platform, and the chemicals were classified into four categories based on molecular similarity: 128 contained benzene rings, 47 were heteroaromatics, 104 contained halogen substituents and 44 were halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons. The predictive model of RfD was constructed by the multiple linear stepwise regression (MLR) method. Approximately 95% and 82% of the data points differ by less than 10-fold and 5-fold between the predicted values and the true values respectively. The non-experimental method improves the estimation efficiency and has a certain reference value to predict.

Recently, China has commenced water quality criteria (WQC) research using the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method. However, it is difficult to obtain sufficient toxicity data on native species for thousands of contaminants. In this study, the feasibility of deriving aquatic life criteria using toxicity data from non-native species was analyzed (taking the USA as an example). Firstly, 10 pollutants [As(Ⅲ), Cr(Ⅵ), Hg, Cu, Pb, Zn, nitrobenzene, parathion, chlorpyrifos, tributyltin] with plenty of toxicity data (at least 3 Phyla and 8 Families) both in China and the USA were selected based on the recommended aquatic life criteria of 58 pollutants by the US EPA. Secondly, the two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test and comparison method of important points of HC

Based on the determinations of total nitrogen (TN), organic matter (OM), carbon-nitrogen ratio (C/N), δ

Species sensitivity analysis is one of the major techniques applied to derive water quality criteria. Presently, the toxicity data used for development of water quality criteria are mainly in the biological individual level. With the increase of ecotoxicogenomics toxicity data, it is worth studying whether the gene expression effect data can be used to derive water quality criteria. Taking cadmium, copper and zinc as examples, we analyzed the toxic effects of the three heavy metals by constructing the species sensitivity distribution curves on the basis of extensive toxicity data. The results showed that the rank of species sensitivity for the acute, chronic and gene expression effect toxicity data of cadmium is “chronic>gene>acute”. Although the gene expression effect data of copper and zinc are insufficient, the trend of data sensitivity of zinc is similar to cadmium. However, the trend of species sensitivity of copper is different from that of cadmium and zinc with higher sensitivity of gene expression data. It suggested that though the existing data of gene expression effects are not sufficient enough, they have the potential to be used in the development of chronic water quality criteria. For application in the derivation of water quality criteria, illogical test concentration design and insufficient target genes are two main weaknesses in the study of gene expression effects.

In this study, toxicity data of aquatic species in Liaohe River for heavy metal chromium (VI) was collected and selected. The aquatic life criteria for chromium (VI) in Liaohe River was derived based on these toxicity data. Moreover, water samples of 25 sites in Liaohe River were collected, and the concentrations of chromium (VI) in these samples were analyzed. Finally, ecological risk assessment of chromium (VI) in Liaohe River was performed. Moreover, interspecies correlation estimation method (ICE) established by US EPA was used to predict the acute toxicity of species in Liaohe River, and aquatic life criteria based on predicted toxicity data was derived. The results showed that: the measured CMC (criteria maximum concentration), measured CCC (criteria continuous concentration) and the predicted CMC were 17. 73, 12. 15 and 13. 97 µg . L -1, respectively. Therefore, the ICE method could be used to predict the aquatic life criteria, because the predicted criteria value was very similar to the measured criteria value. Analysis of chromium (V) showed that the chromium (VI) concentrations of the 25 sites in Liaohe River were all below Class I or Class II water quality standards (GB 3838-2002), and the water quality was in good condition. However, for the potential risk of chromium (VI) exposure to the aquatic life of Liaohe River, the result of ecological risk assessment showed that chromium (V) concentrations in 7 sites exceeded the CCC in July, and chromium (VI) concentrations in 6 sites exceeded the CCC in December. Therefore, unacceptable effect on aquatic species caused by chromium (VI) exposure might have occurred in some sites of Liaohe River.

Environmental pollution sudden of heavy metals has posed serious ecological risks in China. However, local short-term exposure water quality standards (WQSs) are not yet established. In the present study, aquatic ecotoxicity data of Cd 2+ , Cu 2+ , Pb 2+ and Zn 2+ to local species were collected and screened. The suitability of species sensitivity distribution (SSD) methods assumed to be used to derive the WQSs was evaluated by data analysis. Then, the methodology of short-term WQSs was established with the principles of SSD and ecological risk assessment, and the tiered short-term WQSs values of Cd 2+ , Cu 2+ , Pb 2+ and Zn 2+ were derived with the established methodology. Finally, a case analysis was performed with the developed cadmium short-term WQSs and risk grades. The results may provide technical references for response to sudden environmental pollution.

The acute toxicity (48 h-LC50 ) of copper to Daphnia magna predicted by the biotic ligand model (BLM) was compared with the 48 h-LC50 measured in water samples from Liaohe River and Taihu Lake at four specific sites in wet and dry seasons. The results showed that 48 h-LC50 values predicted by BLM were 232.75-411.49 microgL-1 and 48 h-LC50 values measured in the water samples were 134. 55-350. 00 microg L-1 in three sites of Hongmiaozi of Liaohe River, Pingtaishan and Tuoshan of Taihu Lake, which had a better consistency. While for Tongjiangkou of Liaohe River, there was a difference between the BLM predictions and the measured values in wet and dry seasons. According to the predictions and the experimental results, water effect ratios (WERs) were in the range of 2. 18-5.79 and 1.88-11.15 which all were higher than 1. The acute toxicity of Cu of all sites in dry season was greater than those in wet season, which might be that Cu complexation with dissolved organic matter (DOC) reduced the toxicity of Cu.

China has recently commenced water quality criteria (WQC) research using the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method; however, it is difficult to obtain sufficient native species toxicity data for thousands of contaminants. In this study, the feasibility of using non-native toxicity data in deriving native WQC was analyzed. We constructed SSDs based on acute toxicity data of species from China and the USA for eight priority pollutants, and compared the sensitivities of different taxonomic groups between the two countries. The results showed that the SSD method of log-logistic distribution fit the toxicity data of different taxa well. The comparison of sensitivity distribution and hazardous concentration for 5 % of the species and 50 % of the species showed that there was no significant difference between Chinese and American taxa. It could be feasible to use toxicity data from the USA to provide a temporary way to protect organisms in China in emergency situations or for management of priority pollutants when native toxicity data are lacking.

Triclosan (TCS) is an antimicrobial agent which is used as a broad-spectrum bacteriostatic and found in personal care products, and due to this it is widely spread in the aquatic environment. However, there is no paper dealing with the aquatic life criteria of TCS, mainly result from the shortage of toxicity data of different taxonomic levels. In the present study, toxicity data were obtained from 9 acute toxicity tests and 3 chronic toxicity tests using 9 Chinese native aquatic species from different taxonomic levels, and the aquatic life criteria was derived using 3 methods. Furthermore, differences of species sensitivity distributions (SSD) between native and non-native species were compared. Among the tested species, demersal fish Misgurnus anguillicaudatus was the most sensitive species, and the fishes were more sensitive than the aquatic invertebrates of Annelid and insect, and the insect was the least sensitive species. The comparison showed that there was no significant difference between SSDs constructed from native and non-native taxa. Finally, a criterion maximum concentration of 0.009 mg/L and a criterion continuous concentration of 0.002 mg/L were developed based on different taxa, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.

Tissue distribution and bioconcentration factors of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) in five economic fishes in Chaohu Lake were measured with SPE-HPLC. The results showed that, the average concentration of TBBPA was 4.70-11.20 ng x g(-1) (dry weight) in these fishes, in an order as White fishSilver CarpBighead CarpCommon CarpLongsnout Catfish. The highest concentration of TBBPA was found in the kidney, followed by liver and gill. The concentrations in fat and muscle were very low. Silver carp was really different from the other four fishes with the highest measured level in liver, followed by kidney and gills. In addition, the TBBPA concentration in tissues of the white fish showed positive correlation with the fish weight, especially in liver and kidney, but the trend is not significant in the back and belly tissues. The bioaccumulation factors of TBBPA for the 5 fishes were 9.56-22.64 based on the average concentration of TBBPA in water (0.52 microg x L(-1)) detected in this study, indicating insignificant bioconcentration effects of TBBPA on five fishes in Chaohu Lake.