Dredging Operations and

Environmental Research

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Suspended and Deposited Sediment Effects Database (sdSED)

Impacts of sediment on aquatic organisms

Left image credit:NOAA Fisheries; Right image credit: US Army Buffalo District, Andre' M. Hampton


What is the purpose of the Suspended Sediment Database?

This sdSED database compiles data from over 150 studies describing impacts of sediment on aquatic organisms. Specifically, this database focuses on "effect concentrations" for suspended and deposited sediment: concentrations or levels of sediment that cause a statistically significant effect in the study organisms compared to a control group that was not exposed to sediment. The accompanying technical report (Krupa et al. 2025) contains further information on how this data was collected, tables and figures summarizing the data, and discussion of trends and key takeaways. This database and the technical report should prove useful resources to better understand effects of sediment on aquatic organisms and identify critical data gaps for future research.

Org. Org. Sci. Name Org. Comm. Name Org. Life Stage Org. Coral Form Org. Cult. Status Exp. Study Exp. Type Exp. Conc. Exp. Unit Exp. Conc. Unit Exp. Unit Detail Exp. Method Exp. Sed. Exp. Sed. Detail Exp. Water Exp. Water Detail Exp. Salinity ppt Exp. Temp. C Exp. Diss. Oxygen mgL Exp. Hrs. Exp. Hrs. Cat. Exp. Location Exp. Country Endpt. Endpt. Lethality Endpt. Detail Endpt. Quant. Endpt. Stat. Sig. Endpt. Stat. Sig. Detail Endpt. TRV Endpt. LOEC NOEC Included Notes A Notes B Ref. Year Ref. Authors Ref. Title Source Ref. String Ref. URL
Org. Org. Sci. Name Org. Comm. Name Org. Life Stage Org. Coral Form Org. Cult. Status Exp. Study Exp. Type Exp. Conc. Exp. Unit Exp. Conc. Unit Exp. Unit Detail Exp. Method Exp. Sed. Exp. Sed. Detail Exp. Water Exp. Water Detail Exp. Salinity ppt Exp. Temp. C Exp. Diss. Oxygen mgL Exp. Hrs. Exp. Hrs. Cat. Exp. Location Exp. Country Endpt. Endpt. Lethality Endpt. Detail Endpt. Quant. Endpt. Stat. Sig. Endpt. Stat. Sig. Detail Endpt. TRV Endpt. LOEC NOEC Included Notes A Notes B Ref. Year Ref. Authors Ref. Title Source Ref. String Ref. URL

LOECs, NOECs, and Filtering Data

This database serves as a tool to identify sediment concentrations or levels that impact aquatic organisms, particularly no observable effect (NOEC) and lowest observable effect (LOEC) concentrations. The NOEC represents the highest sediment concentration or level at which there was not a statistical difference compared to the no-sediment control group while the LOEC represents the lowest sediment concentration to statistically significantly effect the organism. Although the focus of this effort was on NOEC and LOEC data, some other toxicity reference values (TRVs) such as LC50s are reported. To view effects data, filter by TRV. Filtering by Yes in the Endpt_LOEC_NOEC_Included column will filter the data to only include NOEC and LOEC values from suspended sediment studies for relevant endpoints (all coral endpoints included; for other organisms, includes survival, reproduction, growth, development, excretion, hatch, physiology, and tissue damage). Note that the current version of the database focuses primarily on suspended sediment data for organisms other than coral, though future updates may include additional sediment deposition data.


Click headers to toggle information tables.


Abbreviations
Abbreviation Explanation
N/I No information. Upon further review, this data field may be populated.
N/A Not applicable. Not relevant for the row of data.
N/R Not reported. This data field could not be populated because the information was not reported or was not clear.
NOEC No observable effect concentration. NOEC represents the highest non-statistically significant value reported for a treatment. For this literature review, the NOEC was determined as the highest sediment concentration tested, regardless of whether that treatment group had a statistically significant effect.
LOEC Lowest observable effect concentration. Represents the first concentration in a treatment to have a statistically significant effect compared to the control. Note that for the purpose of this literature review, values were only designated as LOECs if the significant difference between the treatment and the control group was consistent with an exposure-response relationship (i.e.., data was not categorized as a LOEC if a significant difference was observed at a lower concentration, but not at higher concentrations).
Org Organism. Indicates columns providing information about the test organism used.
Exp Exposure. Indicates columns providing details about sediment exposure conditions, duration, and location.
Endpt Endpoint. Indicates columns providing information regarding the exposure endpoint and statistical significance of measured values.
Ref Reference. Indicates columns providing reference information.

Data Field Definitions
Data Field Name Description
sdSED_ID Unique identification number for each record.
Org A broader classification group which species can be categorized in. Note that while data for all organism groups except corals were obtained directly from the source (unless otherwise specified), coral data was obtained from two literature reviews: Erftemeier et al. (2012) and Tuttle and Donahue (2022).
Org_Sci_Name The scientific name (Genus species) of the organism exposed to sediment.
Org_Comm_Name Common name of the test animal.
Org_Life_Stage The life stage or age at test initiation reported in the study for the test organisms.
Org_Coral_Form For coral studies, describes the growth form-- the shape of the coral colony. For further information on how this was classified, refer to Tuttle and Donahue (2022).
Org_Cult_Status A "yes" in this column indicates the test was representative of large-scale aquaculture rather than a typical laboratory or field toxicity test. Compared to typical laboratory toxicity tests, such aquaculture tests tend to have less replication, a higher number of individual animals per replication (e.g., 100-200 animals), greater control mortality, and larger tanks/test vessels.
Exp_Study Whether the study was conducted in a laboratory or mesocosm setting ("Lab") or at a field site ("Field").
Exp_Type Whether the study focused on sediment deposition (including sediment deposition rate and thickness) or suspension.
Exp_Conc The numerical value (nominal or measured) of the amount of sediment reported in the study. The accompanying unit of measurement is provided in the "Exp_Unit" and "Notes_Exp_Unit_Detail" columns.
Exp_Unit A simplification of the "Notes_Exp_Unit_Detail" column, sorting suspended sediment endpoints measured in mg/L (included TSS, suspended sediment concentration) and shading equivalent to mg/L together.
Exp_Conc_Unit Concatenated exposure concentration with exposure unit.
Exp_Sed The test sediment (described in the "Notes_Exp_Sed_Detail" column) was further simplified by grain size category: sand and fine. Fine sediments were further classified into clay and silt when possible. This determination was first made according to numerical grain size using the particle size fractions specified in ISO (14688-1:2017, https://www.iso.org/standard/66345.html). If grain size information was not provided, sediments were assigned to grain size categories based on the written descriptions of the sediments; for example, sediments described as "muddy" where classified as "fine" whereas "sandy" sediments were classified as "sand", kaolinite and fuller's earth where classified as fine (clay), etc. Note that numerical grain size superseded the written description; e.g., a sediment with an average grain size in the "silt" distribution was classified as "fine (silt)" even if the written description described it as a clay.
Exp_Water Whether the study was intended to represent sediment exposure in a freshwater or marine/estuarine environment. "FW": freshwater, "SW": marine or estuarine.
Exp_Water_Detail Broad description of the environment where a field study took place, or for laboratory studies where the sediment was collected and/or environment of the test species.
Exp_Salinity_ppt The salinity, reported in parts per thousand, of the exposure water. If a range of salinity values was reported rather than the average or the level at test initiation, the mean of the range was reported.
Exp_Temp_C The temperature, reported in degrees Celsius, of the exposure water. If a range of temperature values was reported rather than the average or the level at test initiation, the mean of the range was reported.
Exp_Diss_Oxygen_mgL The dissolved oxygen concentration, reported in milligrams per liter (mg/L), of the exposure water.
Exp_Hrs The time (in hours) the test organisms were exposed to the suspended or deposited sediment. Recovery periods, when applicable, are described in the separate "Notes" columns.
Exp_Hrs_Cat Data from the "Exp_Hrs" column was sorted by the duration of the exposure to sediment: whether the organisms were exposed to sediment for a length of time greater than 96 hours (>96) or equal or less than 96 hours (<96); this was used to sort the data for NOEC/LOEC data analysis in the technical report.
Exp_Location Either the location the sediment exposure was meant to be representative of (often also the site where sediment was field-collected from), and/or the location the test was carried out (i.e., the laboratory or field location).
Exp_Country The country where the study was conducted.
Endpt Groupings of similar endpoints from the "Endpt_Detail" column. The "Endpoint" table below gives specific information on the endpoints these groups contain.
Endpt_Lethality "Lethal" indicates endpoints dealing with survival and mortality, as well as bleaching and tissue damage in corals. All other endpoints were classified as "Sublethal".
Endpt_Detail The sediment exposure endpoint as reported in the source.
Endpt_Quant Numerical value expressing the magnitude of the endpoint column. For data obtained from Tuttle and Donahue (2022), this value was for "Response 1" from the Tuttle and Donahue (2022) database unless otherwise specified in the "Notes" columns.
Endpt_Stat_Sig Whether there was a statistically significant difference as compared to the treatment's control group.
Endpt_Stat_Sig_Detail Further describes the statistical difference from the "Endpt_Stat_Sig?" column.
Endpt_TRV "Toxicity Reference Values": whether the reported data row was considered a No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC), Lowest Observed Effect Concentration) LOEC, or Lethal Concentration 50% (LC50) value. This column is further down-selecting data from the "Endpt_Stat_Sig_Detail" column. Refer to section 2.2 of the accompanying technical report for a detailed description of how NOECs and LOECs were determined.
Endpt_LOEC_NOEC_Included Indicates whether the entry was used for LOEC/NOEC data analysis in the accompanying technical report (box-and-whisker plots and quantiles). Note that this column is also a useful way to filter the data to include only NOEC/LOEC data points from suspended sediment studies in mg/L for relevant endpoints (all coral endpoints included; for other organisms, includes survival, reproduction, growth, development, excretion, hatch, physiology, and tissue damage); refer to Section 2.2 of the technical report for further details on which data was included or excluded.
Notes_Exp_Unit_Detail Indicates the environmental effect quantified or examined in the study, typically the sediment stressor and its associated unit of measurement as reported in the study.
Notes_Exp_Sed_Detail A description of the sediment used in the study, with information including grain size, source, and composition.
Notes_Exp_Method A written description of how sediment was kept suspended in the study. Sometimes, the rate of waterflow or water exchange used to suspend the sediment is reported rather than the device or technique.
Notes_A Comments, including but not limited to clarification of exposure conditions or the reported endpoint, results highlights, and reasons why data was not used for LOEC/NOEC analysis. This column also describes how data containing multiple endpoints from Tuttle and Donahue (2022) was combined; for more information on this, refer to section 1.3 and Appendix B of the technical report.
Notes_B Further comments to provide clarification, including information pertaining to test endpoints, statistical significance, organisms or sediments used, etc.
Notes_C Further comments to provide clarification, including information pertaining to test endpoints, statistical significance, organisms or sediments used, etc.
Ref_Year The year the source was published.
Ref_Authors An abbreviated citation for the source study, consisting of the author(s) and year of publication.
Ref_Title_Source Lists the title of the source the data was obtained from. For all organisms except corals, this is the direct source the data was obtained from (unless otherwise noted). For corals, this lists the review study database the data was obtained from.
Ref_URL A link to the website where the source material can be accessed. Note this may not be available for all studies, specifically some of the older ones.
Ref_String Combination of the "Ref_Authors" and "Ref_Title_Source" columns, for display on the online DataTable.

Endpoint
Endpoint Group Explanation
Behavior Endpoints relating to organism behavior, including reactions, swimming, shell opening and closing, preference and avoidance, rheotaxis, cannibalism, etc.
Biochemical Endpoints relating to hormones and body regulation, including enzyme activity, osmoregulation, blood protein concentration, and hormone levels.
Bleaching Coral-specific endpoint, as reported in Tuttle and Donahue (2022), supplemental file 3 (database).
Development Endpoints relating to development, including embryonic development, metamorphosis, malformations, and gonosomatic index.
Excretion Endpoints releating to waste excretion and pseudofecal production.
Feeding Endpoints relating to feeding and prey capture (but excluding photosynthesis). This includes heterotrophy (particle ingestion) for corals, clearance rate for bivalves, and expulsion and mandible activity for crustaceans.
Growth Endpoints relating to growth rate as well as length and mass.
Hatch Endpoints relating to hatching of eggs, typically the percentage of eggs hatching.
Larval settlement Coral-specific endpoint, as reported in Tuttle and Donahue (2022), supplemental file 3 (database). Relates to the coral larvae attaching to a suitable substrate and metamorphosis into a coral recruit.
Mortality Coral-specific endpoint; for other organisms, "mortality" endpoints were added to the "survival" endpoint category. Deals with mortality endpoints that measure colony or tissue death rather than survival. This contains partial, tissue, juvenile, and recruit mortality (from "Response Type" column, Tuttle and Donahue database) as well as small necroses, large necroses, and death of colonies ("Binary Response" columns in Tuttle and Donahue database).
Mucus Endpoint relating to the production of mucus.
Multiple Coral-specific endpoint, grouping data from Tuttle and Donahue (2022). As the Tuttle database reported multiple endpoints for a single row of data, this column combines entries from Tuttle that had multiple relevant endpoints reported.
Photosynthesis Coral-specific endpointing relating to photosynthesis, including chlorophyll a, photosynthetic yields, photosynthesis:respiration ratio, and zooxanthellae.
Physiology Physiology related endpoints including stress markers, pigmentation/color index, gas bladder inflation, body condition, critical oxygen tension, and metabolic rate.
Reproduction Endpoints relating to the production of offspring, including fertilization, fitness, number of offspring, and age to maturity/reproduction.
Respiration Endpoints relating to breathing, aerobic scope, oxygen consumption, fish cough frequency, and bivalve pumping rates.
(Unspecified) Coral-specific, for endpoints indicated as sublethal in Tuttle and Donahue (2022) but with the specific endpoint not being easily distinguished.
Survival Relating to the number or percentage of organisms surviving sediment exposure. Also includes mortality data (the number or percentage of organisms dying in sediment exposure).
Survival (Time) Time until mortality occurred, typically reported in studies exposing fish to supersaturated dissolved gas concentrations.
Tissue damage Damage to tissues and organs, typically to the epidermis or gills of fish.

➤

Last updated on 5/16/2025.