Targeted Selecting of Bioassay Methods as an Alternative to the “Battery of Bioassays”

The article describes an algorithm for selecting a targeted bioassay method. It was proposed to consider the most sensitive method to a certain contamination as the targeted method of bioassay. The selection was made from a “battery of bioassays”, which necessarily includes the D. magna mortality test. The rest of the methods for comparing sensitivity were selected situationally. The algorithm was tested on model samples. It was found that mortality tests for D. magna and C. affinis are the most sensitive to contamination with mineral nitrogen compounds. E. coli bioluminescence reduction test is preferred when there is contamination with Cu, phosphates and pyrophosphates. It was shown that the test to reduce the chemotactic reaction of P. caudatum should be used when the aquatic environment is polluted with Cd, Pb, Zn, oil products, organic herbicides imazethapyr and imazamox. The proposed algorithm is universal, but it should be applied when the priority pollutant is known, the effects of which prevail over the action of other compounds in the sample.