Ecotoxicology of selenium in freshwater systems

The toxicology, environmental impacts and risk assessment of Se in freshwater systems are a high priority for research and regulatory agencies. However, understanding Se in freshwater systems is a challenging endeavor. The accurate risk assessment and determination of a water-quality criterion for any freshwater ecosystem are difficult for many reasons. First, the understanding of the structure and energy dynamics in ecosystems is limited. Second, knowledge of Se cycling and transformations in aquatic ecosystems is rudimentary. Third, the role of various environmental factors affecting its bioaccumulation, biotransformation, and toxicology in aquatic ecosystems is largely unknown. Fourth, the extrapolation and use of existing data in commonly used formulas for risk assessment and calculations of water quality criteria is difficult because of the demonstrated species differences in the bioaccumulation, metabolism, and tolerance of Se. There are many aspects of Se ecotoxicology that need to be addressed to develop more accurate environmental risk assessments and determine appropriate water-quality criteria to protect aquatic ecosystems. Studies evaluating the biochemical speciation of Se in aquatic ecosystems, and determination of the role of microbial communities in its cycling, bioaccumulation, transformation, transfer, and toxicity in aquatic systems, appear to be priorities for future research. These would include a broad exploration of Se effects on ecosystems, e.g., exposure regime, direct and indirect biologic effects, and ecosystem level effects. There are, however, ecological uncertainties that tend to confound such endeavors, e.g., insufficient data, extrapolation issues, and environmental stochasticity (Harwell and Harwell 1989). There are several concepts concerning the ecotoxicology of Se that can be stated. Elevated concentrations have degraded many freshwater ecosystems throughout the United States, and additional systems are expected to be affected as anthropogenic activities increasingly mobilize Se into aquatic systems. Se is a very toxic essential trace element. Toxic threshold concentrations in water, dietary items, and tissues are only 2-5 times normal background concentrations. Toxicity in freshwater ecosystems is the result of bioaccumulation, biotransformation, and cycling of Se in aquatic food chains. Thus, environmental risk assessment and development of effective water-quality criteria to protect freshwater ecosystems become formidable tasks.