Summary: | The aim of this component of the Reef Rescue Monitoring Program is to assess trends in the concentrations of specific herbicides and pesticides, primarily through routine monitoring at sites (Green Island, Low Isles, Fitzroy Island, Normanby Island, Dunk Island, Orpheus Island, Magnetic Island, Cape Cleveland, Pioneer Bay, Outer Whitsunday, Sarina Inlet, North Keppel Island) within 20km of the Queensland coast. The monitoring year for routine pesticide sampling is from May to April. The year is arbitrarily divided into “Dry Season” (May to October) and “Wet Season” (November– April) sampling periods for reporting purposes. Within each dry season, samplers are typically deployed for two months (maximum of three monitoring periods) and within each wet season, samplers are typically deployed for one month (maximum of six monitoring periods). The maximum number of samples which should be obtained from each location within each monitoring year is nine. Exposure to chemicals in the water is assessed with passive samplers. Passive samplers accumulate organic chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides from water until equilibrium is established between the concentration in water (CW ng.L-1) and the concentration in the sampler (CS ng.g-1). The concentration of the chemical in the water is estimated from calibration data obtained under controlled laboratory conditions (Booij et al., 2007). This calibration data consists of either sampling rates (RS L.day-1) for chemicals which are expected to be in the time-integrated sampling phase or sampler-water equilibrium partition coefficients (KSW L.g-1) for chemicals which are expected to be in the equilibrium sampling phase. Different types of organic chemicals need to be targeted using different passive sampling phases. The passive sampling techniques which are utilized in the MMP include: SDB-RPS Empore™ Disk (ED) based passive samplers for relatively hydrophilic organic chemicals with relatively low octanol-water partition coefficients (logKOW) such as the Photosystem II ...
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