Use of multidimensional scaling in the selection of wastewater toxicity test battery components

In aquatic toxicity testing, no single test species is sensitive to all toxicants. Therefore, test batteries consisting of several individual assays are becoming more common. The organisms in a test battery should be representative of the entire system of interest. The results of the assays should be complementary to other components in the test battery to avoid redundancy. With the aid of multidimensional scaling (MDS), a multivariate statistical method, we examined the toxicity data of five bioassays (the continuous Shk1, Polytox, activated sludge respiration inhibition, Nitrosomonas, and Tetrahymena assays) that could serve as test battery components for the assessment of wastewater toxicity to activated sludge. MDS mapped the five assays into a two-dimensional space and showed that the Nitrosomonas assay should be included in test batteries plus one of the remaining four assays for assessing wastewater toxicity to activated sludge.