Responses of marine unicellular algae to brominated organic compounds in six growth media

Marine unicellular algae, Skeletonema costatum, Thalassiosira pseudonana, and Chlorella sp. were exposed to the industrial brominated compounds tetrabromobisphenol A, decabromobiphenyloxide (DBBO), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), pentabromomethylbenzene (PBMB), pentabromoethylbenzene (PBEB), and the herbicide bromoxynil (BROM), in six algal growth media. High concentrations of DBBO (1 mg liter-1), PBMB (1 mg liter-1), and PBEB (0.5 mg liter-1) reduced growth by less than 50%. EC50s of the other compounds varied with growth medium, with high EC50/low EC50 ratios between 1.3 and 9.9. Lowest EC50s, 9.3 to 12.0 micrograms liter-1, were obtained with S. costatum and HBCD. It is concluded that responses to toxicants in different media are the results of interactions among algae, growth medium, toxicant, and solvent carrier.