Freshwater chronic ammonia toxicity: A tropical‐to‐temperate comparison

The chronic toxicity of ammonia to tropical freshwater species is understudied, and thus data on temperate species have been used to derive water quality guideline values for tropical regions. Such practices may lead to underprotective guideline values due to differences in toxicities observed between tropical and temperate species. In addition, the presence of ammonia in low‐ionic‐strength waters may also result in higher toxicity, and studies on this factor are limited. The present study assessed the toxicity of ammonia to 6 tropical freshwater species in low‐ionic‐strength waters. Because ammonia toxicity varies depending on the pH and temperature, test water pH concentrations were maintained at approximately pH 6.0 ± 0.3 at temperatures between 27.5 and 30 °C. Low‐effect chronic inhibition concentrations were derived for the following species: Chlorella sp. 66 mg L−1; Lemna aequinoctialis 22 mg L−1; Hydra viridissima 1.8 mg L−1; Moinodaphnia macleayi 27 mg L−1; Amerianna cumingi 17 mg L−1; and Mogurnda mogurnda 5.4 mg L−1 total ammonia nitrogen. Two of the species tested (a cnidarian and a fish species) were among the most sensitive reported anywhere within their taxonomic group. Chronic ammonia datasets representing toxicity estimates for temperate and tropical species were plotted and compared using species sensitivity distributions. The results indicate that the differences in chronic toxicity observed between tropical and temperate species were likely due to the low ionic strength of the waters to which tropical species were exposed, rather than any inherent physiological differences between species from tropical and temperate regions. This finding suggests that tropical waters of low ionic strength may be at a higher risk from ammonia compared with other freshwater ecosystems. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:177–189. © 2018 Commonwealth of Australia. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of SETAC.