Ecological risk assessment for BDE-47 in marine environment based on species sensitivity distribution method

BDE-47 is the most abundant and toxic congener in the marine environment. Assessing the ecological risk of BDE-47 in seawater is of great importance to protect the marine species. However, the ecological risks of BDE-47 on marine species is still limited. In the present study, the hazardous concentrations for 5 % of species (HC₅) values of BDE-47 were derived by species sensitivity distributions (SSD), the short-term water quality criteria (SWQC) and long-term water quality criteria (LWQC) were acquired from HC₅. Moreover, the marine ecological risk of BDE-47 was assessed by the risk quotient (RQ) method in the coastal area of China. The SWQC and LWQC were 1.06 μg/L and 0.61 μg/L, respectively. According to published literature, the concentrations of BDE-47 ranged from undetected to 9.06 ng/L, BDE-47 has no risk to marine species in most coastal areas, but might show low risk for a long exposure time in the coastal mariculture area of China. This study provides a new approach for the derivation of the WQC and the ecological risk assessment of BDE-47, which is essential for the protection of marine species and provides guidance to manage the concentration of BDE-47 for administrative department.