Sediment TIE Validation Study Using South Korean Domestic Species Glyptotendipes tokunagai to Evaluate Contamination with Two Heavy Metals and Ammonia

Toxicity identification evaluation (TIE) is used to support sustainable soil management. However, TIE studies for sediment contamination have been limited and no previous study has validated its applicability to a species native to South Korea, to the best of our knowledge. Therefore, this study aims to validate the applicability of domestic species inhabiting East Asia to a TIE framework. We selected Glyptotendipes tokunagai, a common benthic invertebrate in urban areas. Contaminated sediment samples were generated using cadmium, copper, and ammonia, which are the major pollutants in sediment. Three different adsorbents were chosen as pollutant removal agents to validate the applicability of TIE using G. tokunagai. In the results, G. tokunagai exhibited a mortality rate that was dependent on the concentration of each pollutant. The mortality rate dramatically decreased after adding the chosen adsorbents to the contaminated sediments. Additionally, the observed reduction in toxicant concentrations suggests that these additives are efficient for toxicant removal. In contrast, WCA10L showed a mortality higher than 20% and seems not to be a proper additive for a toxicity assay. Through this study, G. tokunagai was demonstrated to be sufficiently sensitive to sediment contaminated with different pollutants and showed reproducible measurements, making it a suitable test organism for the TIE framework. Moreover, suitable adsorbents were suggested by measuring efficiency and toxicity after the toxicant removal procedure.