Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 7-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Reproductive toxicity of metals in calanoid copepods

Reproductive toxicity of metals in calanoid copepods This study investigated the effect of exposure route on metal accumulation, tissue distribution, and toxicity in the marine copepods Acartia hudsonica and A. tonsa. Sublethal toxicity was measured as decreases in egg production, hatching rate, ovarian development and protein (yolk) content of the egg. When algal food, exposed to Hg at 1 nM or Cd at 5 nM resulting in cells containing 34 and 64 nmol metal g–1 dry weight, respectively, was ingested over a 4-h period by copepods, the total copepod body burden increased nine-fold for Hg and two-fold for Cd over background concentrations, and egg production decreased by 50%. Sublethal concentrations of metals were >2 orders of magnitude lower than LC50 concentrations. Hatching rate, ovarian development and egg protein content all decreased following trophic exposure to metals, implying that the process of yolk accumulation (vitellogenesis) was affected. Exposure to dissolved Cd had no effect, but dissolved Hg at concentrations as low as 0.25 nM did affect egg production. Different toxic effects following different exposure routes were related to different metal distributions in the copepods: exposure to dissolved metal resulted in metal deposition in the exoskeleton, whereas exposure to dietary metal resulted in metal deposition in internal tissues. These findings indicate that enrichment of metal concentrations in internal tissues, which occurs primarily after exposure to dietary metal, affects vitellogenesis. The reproduction rate decreases by about 75% at metal concentrations only moderately higher than levels in coastal waters. Toxicity tests involving aquatic animals need to consider effects following uptake by different pathways, including the trophic transfer of metals. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Marine Biology Springer Journals

Reproductive toxicity of metals in calanoid copepods

Hook, Sharon; Fisher, Nicholas
Marine Biology , Volume 138 (6) – Jun 20, 2001
Download PDF
10 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/reproductive-toxicity-of-metals-in-calanoid-copepods-vd3oJy04cy

References (0)

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by Springer-Verlag
Subject
Environment; Marine & Freshwater Sciences; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Oceanography; Microbiology; Zoology
ISSN
0025-3162
eISSN
1432-1793
DOI
10.1007/s002270000533
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of exposure route on metal accumulation, tissue distribution, and toxicity in the marine copepods Acartia hudsonica and A. tonsa. Sublethal toxicity was measured as decreases in egg production, hatching rate, ovarian development and protein (yolk) content of the egg. When algal food, exposed to Hg at 1 nM or Cd at 5 nM resulting in cells containing 34 and 64 nmol metal g–1 dry weight, respectively, was ingested over a 4-h period by copepods, the total copepod body burden increased nine-fold for Hg and two-fold for Cd over background concentrations, and egg production decreased by 50%. Sublethal concentrations of metals were >2 orders of magnitude lower than LC50 concentrations. Hatching rate, ovarian development and egg protein content all decreased following trophic exposure to metals, implying that the process of yolk accumulation (vitellogenesis) was affected. Exposure to dissolved Cd had no effect, but dissolved Hg at concentrations as low as 0.25 nM did affect egg production. Different toxic effects following different exposure routes were related to different metal distributions in the copepods: exposure to dissolved metal resulted in metal deposition in the exoskeleton, whereas exposure to dietary metal resulted in metal deposition in internal tissues. These findings indicate that enrichment of metal concentrations in internal tissues, which occurs primarily after exposure to dietary metal, affects vitellogenesis. The reproduction rate decreases by about 75% at metal concentrations only moderately higher than levels in coastal waters. Toxicity tests involving aquatic animals need to consider effects following uptake by different pathways, including the trophic transfer of metals.

Journal

Marine Biology – Springer Journals

Published: Jun 20, 2001

There are no references for this article.