Research Product

The evaluation of the phytotoxicity of a chemical is an essential component of the ecological risk assessment of that compound. Primary producers form an essential trophic level of any ecosystem. Further, since all chemicals introduced into the environmental ultimately find their way into aquatic ecosystems, aquatic algal and plant toxicity evaluations are particularly critical. This chapter presents the current state of phytotoxicity testing, with particular attention paid to algal and vascular plant bioassays. The algal bioassay section focuses on test methods due to the relatively long history of algal toxicity testing. The vascular plant section focuses on the different plants used for bioassays and the various endpoints used in these bioassays.