ABSTRACT
Aquatic ecosystems are susceptible to anthropogenic contaminants such as pesticides, metals, pharmaceuticals, and persistent organic chemicals. The field of ecotoxicology focuses on determining the risk of such pollutants to non-target organisms. The inclusion of algal species in ecotoxicity testing provides an assessment of impacts to primary production and phototrophic biomass that are the base of the aquatic food web. Dunaliella has been used as a representative marine and estuarine algal test species. This chapter describes toxicity testing methods and results achieved with a variety of chemical compounds using Dunaliella tertiolecta. D. tertiolecta is an excellent toxicity test organism due to its ease of culture in the laboratory, size and morphology, rapid growth rate, and consistent response to environmental contaminants. To provide data on both structural and functional effects, a number of different test endpoints may be employed such as cell density, growth rate, primary productivity, chlorophyll, and cellular biovolume. The results generated have applications in environmental risk assessment and environmental management, particularly when combined with toxicity testing using other endpoints and species.
