In response to nuisance growths of algae and vascular
plants, such as dioecious hydrilla (
Hydrilla verticillata
L.f.
Royle), copper formulations have been applied in lakes and
reservoirs for a number of years. Concerns have arisen regarding
the long-term consequences of copper applications
and those concerns have appropriately focused on sediment
residues. In this study, we evaluated the toxicity of sediments
from treated (for a decade) and untreated areas in Lake
Murray, South Carolina and estimated the capacity of those
sediments to bind additional copper. Two sentinel aquatic invertebrates,
Hyalella azteca
Saussure and
Ceriodaphnia dubia
Richard, were used to measure residual toxicity of treated
and untreated sediments from the field and after laboratory
amendments. (PDF has 5 pages.
