Estimating safe concentrations of trace metals from inter-continental field data on river macroinvertebrates

We derived safe concentrations (SCs) of copper, zinc, cadmium, and manganese using river macroinvertebrate surveys at over 400 individual sites on three continents represented by the UK, USA, and Japan. We related a standardized measure of EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) taxon richness to dissolved metal concentrations and identified SCs as the thresholds at which effects became apparent. Estimated SCs (and 95% confidence interval, μg/L) for copper, zinc, cadmium, and manganese were 6.6 (1.2–14.2), 34 (11–307), 0.11 (0.06–0.49), and 7.1 (1.4–20.5), respectively. These values for copper, zinc, and cadmium overlapped closely with laboratory-derived SCs available from water quality criteria/standards in the USA/UK and also predicted no effect concentrations from European Union risk assessments. Such laboratory-derived SCs for manganese are unavailable. These results not only add considerable confidence to the application of existing metal standards, but illustrate also how standard values might be widely transportable geographically.

► We assessed field effects of Cu, Zn, Cd, and Mn on river invertebrate richness.
► Field data were collected from over 400 sites on three continents.
► Safe concentrations (SC) for each metal were evaluated using threshold models.
► Estimated field SCs overlapped with laboratory-based standards.
► These results suggest that existing metal standards may be widely applicable.