THE SEDIMENT QUALITY TRIAD APPROACH TO DETERMINING POLLUTION-INDUCED DEGRADATION

It is difficult to determine cause-effect relationships resulting from mixtures of chemical contaminants found in natural sediments. However, such relationships must involve bioavailability and can be suspected if there is a correspondence between chemical contamination and biological effects, particularly if such correspondence is based on synoptic measurements and involves the Sediment Quality Triad (chemistry to measure contamination, bioassay to measure toxicity, in situ biological assessment to measure effects such as benthic community alteration). Effects can include lethal, sublethal, chronic, genotoxic, cytotoxic, population or community responses, but do not include bioaccumulation per se, which is a phenomenon, not an effect. The combination of potential cause (chemistry) and effect (biology) measurements makes the Sediment Quality Triad one of the most complete and powerful tools available today to determine the extent and significance of pollution-induced degradation. © 1990.