Potential of acoustic wave microsensors for aquatic ecotoxicity assessmentbased on microalgae

Aquatic toxicity assessments based on inhibition of algal growth have been performed, as described in the French standardized procedure T90-304. The c ellular growth was monitored by acoustic micro-sensors (quartz thickness sh ear mode) instead of the usual optical techniques. These experiments have s hown that the real component of the interfacial acoustic impedance, measure d by the sensor, displayed a large linear variation along the 3-day algal g rowth. The acoustic technique appears to have an interesting potential for conducting automatic algal bioassays. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All ri ghts reserved.